The Razgriz Aces: Mini Stories
by wisegirl502
Summary: So if you've read "The Razgriz Aces," have you wondered what the gang got themselves into after the war? Well, between their reveal to the world to additions to the group to entanglements in another war, the Razgriz still don't have normal lives going on and probably never will, and these mini stories will tell all!
1. Divulged

**Y'all ready for the sequel series? ;) So I don't know how reveals of secret Air Force squadrons go so I'm just going to make this all up, okay? So don't bash me haha ****and some of these mini stories won't go in order by date but I'm going to try to make them stay in order as much as I can.**

**To all my new readers, there are some things to know! 1) If you like my story, REVIEW! 2) If you don't like it, simple, don't review and send a flame. 3) If you have constructive criticism, not **_**destructive**_**, please feel free to tell me :) Otherwise, that's it! So onwards!**

**Chapter Quote:  
**"**The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step, and a lot of bitching."  
****~Unknown**

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Divulged

**December 10, 2013…**

**Blaze**

I was standing on the balcony of one of the formal living rooms of the Versailles Palace, bracing myself on my forearms on the rails, overlooking the gardens which were hidden from any onlooker's view since they were completely surrounded by the palace walls. They were quite beautiful, the gardens I mean. There was a huge fountain in the middle, five-tiered so that water spilled over the sides and into the bottom. The fountain had four benches around it and white rose bushes were on the ends of each bench. A flagstone path encircled all of it and went into eight different directions: North, Northeast, East, Southeast, South, Southwest, West, and Northwest. The Southern part had my favorite flowers of all: lilies. They ranged from yellow lilies to pink ones and I was in love with them.

At the moment, I was enraptured with the water the fountain was spewing out. Water had always fascinated me and it was a wonder I hadn't gone into the Navy. But I liked the air more.

I was waiting (might I add impatiently) for the some military officials to arrive at Versailles. They were my old bosses and some commanders that had led some of the most successful missions in the Circum-Pacific war. Pretty much the top brass. You know who else was going to be there? None other than Orson Perrault. I was really looking forward to seeing him again, mainly because I now had higher status than him and I could so completely lord that over him. Also, he didn't know that Chopper was alive and kicking. I smiled at the thought of my husband. Within less than a year, he had undergone extensive training to get back into the shape he was in before he crashed. Unless I was hallucinating, he was in better shape now. His color had returned because he spent so much time outside. If any of us couldn't find him when we were at Versailles, we immediately went to the gardens where ninety-nine percent of the time, we found him stretched out on one of the benches, aviators on, and snoring very loudly. One time when I woke him up, I scared him so bad that he fell off the bench. Needless to say I felt horrible, but I was laughing my butt off.

Movement near the northern entrance to the gardens caught my eye. Looking over, Orson Perrault, fatter than the last time I saw him, was waddling onto the pathway, heading south. He looked up at me and gave a slight smile. He obviously didn't recognize me with my aviators on; the distance probably played a part in him not recognizing me either. I didn't return the smile, however. Instead I turned around and went inside. I still didn't like him. I was still pissed off at him. I knew I should let the grudge I was holding against him go but he had been an ass to me the whole time I'd been on Sand Island. Well, I was going to return the favor to him now.

"Blaze, who pissed you off now?" Chopper's amused voice floated from the doorway. I looked up in surprise to find him leaning against the door frame. Besides getting more in shape than ever, getting his humor back, and getting his pre-crash/capture personality back, he'd also become very stealth-like which was actually surprising for Chopper since he had this insane ability to trip over nothing (like me).

"Orson Perrault is here," I said distastefully.

Chopper did a fake gag. "Just tell him to shut up again and all will be well."

"Believe me, I will. I'm really going to have to hold my temper in this meeting aren't I?" I asked, grimacing.

Chopper held out his hand for me and I took it. "I wouldn't stop you if you did lose your temper. Besides, almost all of them are ego-maniacs in there who need a good scolding by you. Come on, let's go," he laughed. We walked hand-in-hand to the Cabinet Room. There were fifty-one seats in there. One seat was at the head of the table, which is where Harling would preside so he could see all of. Being the leader of the Razgriz, I'd be seated next to him. Bartlett would be on the other side of Harling.

Chopper and I entered the room next door to the Cabinet room where the rest of our group was waiting. Genette, Jason, Pixy, Grimm, Bartlett, Pops, Andersen, Snow, and Geller were in suits. I realized Chopper was wearing one too. I loved when he wore suits; he looked dead-gorgeous. Cassie, Nagase, and Major, like me, were in black dresses.

"Guess who's here?" Cassie grumbled.

"Perrault?" I guessed.

"Psychic powers are still working," Nagase said.

"Actually I just saw him in the gardens. Y'all ready for this?"

Grimm snorted. "No. I don't want to be the center of this attention. You do realize this is going to change our lives forever right?"

"Eh, we'll be fine. The hoopla will die down after a while," Bartlett commented nonchalantly.

"It's not just the Razgriz being revealed. The 'Demon Lord' is being revealed too," Pixy pointed out with a grin.

"Don't remind me," Cipher muttered. I turned to look at my brother. His camera was pointed at us, capturing all the bickering. I waved and smiled at the camera.

"Guess we should start heading in," Pops suggested. Genette shut off his camera before we walked into out of the room and into the Cabinet room. It was almost full. Perrault was there; I took one glance his way before walking to my seat. I made it my mission not to look at him unless necessary… or forced.

Chopper sat next to me as Harling took his seat. The remaining people entered and took their seats. Once everyone was settled in, Harling stood up, cleared his throat and said, "Welcome and thank you for joining me here today. Now, you must be wondering why I have called you here as I did not tell you when I invited you. Since all of you were in the recent Circum-Pacific War, and many of you participated in the Belkan War fifteen years, I know you have heard of three very prominent squadrons: Galm, Wardog, also called the Sand Island Squadron, and the Ghosts of Razgriz, more commonly called Razgriz. The public needs to know who their heroes are in these two wars and the time has now come. Thirty-seven of you have had encounters with them, whether it was personal or in battle. The thirty-seven of you, if you agree, will join Pops, Andersen, and Bartlett in the opening ceremony of the reveal of not only the Razgriz, but also the Galm Team."

"President, I'd first like to know who the Razgriz are. Are they or are they not the same as the Sand Island Squadron?" A man asked. He was older and although he spoke firmly, I could tell he was kind.

"The Sand Island Squadron was shot down with nothing of their remnants found and the pilots were declared dead," another man retorted. This guy I didn't like. He obviously thought he was better than mostly everyone else in the room.

"Looks can be deceiving," Bartlett said, glowering at the man.

"Who are you again?" the same man demanded.

"Captain Jack Bartlett, ex-Captain of the Wardog Squadron and the man who trained the pilots who would later become the Razgriz." Bartlett smiled cockily as the man's eyes widened.

"That doesn't answer the question I previously asked though," the first man said.

Something clicked in my head. "You were the commander of Company B in Operation Footprint who was supposed to retire and then you were also in the Jilachi Desert in Operation Desert Blitz, weren't you?" I queried.

He looked at me with a surprised smile. "Yes, I am Commander Theodore Wilkes. I'm assuming you were in the battle?"

"Yes, sir."

"Air support I'm guessing?" He winked at me and I knew immediately he knew who I was.

"Precisely."

"Enough with the suspense! Who are they?" A man asked, looking at Harling.

"Razgriz, Galm, pilot or not, please stand up," Harling ordered, holding his palms out faced up. With a deep breath I stood up along with my friends. I felt short standing between Chopper and Harling since they were both taller than me.

Gasps went around the room before Commander Wilkes stood up and started shaking Genette's hand since my brother was closest to him. He proceeded to go around the table, shaking all of our hands. One by one, the other military officials stood up and followed Wilkes' actions. When he came around to me, he said sincerely, "You and your squadron are why the war ended. We can never repay you. Thank you Blaze."

"It was nothing; I was just doing my job," I replied bashfully. I still wasn't used to getting compliments like that.

"Blaze, there comes a point in your life when you _really_ need to stop being so modest about your flying ability and the fact that you pretty much single-handedly changed the tide of this war," Chopper interjected cheerfully.

Wilkes laughed. "You must be Chopper. I recognize your voice from anywhere. You were the one that started most of the useless chatter."

"Yes, sir I am. Proudly reinstated as Razgriz Three," Chopper claimed with a grin. "It's a pleasure to meet you, sir."

"The pleasure is all mine. I better get going because I think more people want to meet you. We shall talk soon," Wilkes said before shaking our hands once more and walking off. He was followed by the rest of the military officials. They overwhelmed me with compliments, ranging from "You're the most amazing pilot" to "Thank you for ending the war" to "God Bless the Razgriz" and others I can't even remember. Some even went so far as to hug me. They were the older, gentler leaders.

Something bugged me about meeting everyone and I couldn't decide upon what until it, or maybe I should say _who_, was standing in front of me. Instinctively I raised my head higher, straightened my back, while looking Orson Perrault dead in the eye.

"Blaze," he greeted.

"Perrault," I replied. I could feel people watching us, specifically my squadron. If he wanted to start the politeness of the conversation, he had to initiate it. I wasn't going to do jack squat.

"I, unfortunately, made a mistake by trusting the wrong person and I would like to formally apologize for sending people after to kill you."

I'll admit, his apology stunned the hell out of me. Maybe it was because he knew he had to be polite to me in front of the president, maybe he was being polite to me because I now had higher status than him, or maybe he was genuinely sorry, but that still didn't mean I was shocked.

"And Davenport, do not die again if you are ever under my command once more. I would rather not get told off by your wife again," Perrault joked lightly.

Unlike me, Chopper seemed fine as he responded, "Don't send men after my wife to kill her and you might have a deal."

"Deal," Perrault said, offering his hand for Chopper to shake. Chopper shook it. Turning to me, Perrault inquired, "Do you accept my apology?"

I stared at him. How could I forgive a man who had been an ass to me since the minute I stepped foot on his base and told me to suck it up right after Chopper had died? But at that moment, Chopper squeezed my hand and I gave in. I was better than keeping a grudge against someone like Perrault. I said, "Apology accepted."

We shook hands and he moved on. I let out a small sigh; Chopper kissed me on the head. I shook hands with the rest of the officials before we took our seats again.

Harling, still standing, announced, "I have decided the reveal of the Razgriz shall take place on December thirtieth, the day the war was declared over by me and Nikanor. This means we have less than a month to prepare you for the reveal. On the bright side, the entire procession is already planned out, meaning all of you will be briefed on what exactly you are supposed to do. Three of the coordinators for this project will meet with you shortly. I will be going with the Razgriz to their briefing as theirs is completely different. Good day and thank you all for coming."

My friends (and family in the case of my uncle Jason and Genette) stood up and walked out of the Cabinet room where I allowed myself to relax. I had never been good in front of lots of important people. Just because I had higher status than them in the government did not mean whatsoever that they didn't scare me, or at least intimidate me. The last time I had been with any of them, they'd all had higher status than me. It was still nerve-wracking.

"Blaze, I thought you were going to strangle Perrault at first," Nagase joked.

"I seriously considered it," I answered.

"You should've," Bartlett muttered. I grinned but said nothing.

When we reached one of the two casual living rooms, my mouth dropped open. Inside were about thirty Versailles Palace staff members; a food table was in a corner of the room with endless amounts of snacks. I saw Chopper, Grimm, and Genette eyeing that table hungrily which I rolled my eyes at. They were always hungry.

The staff members were milling about but started clapping when they saw us.

"They kind of know who you are," Harling mentioned, sounding amused. Looking around, he ordered firmly yet kindly, "Settle down people! I know you're all excited but we have a lot to do. First thing's first, Razgriz, Galm, what colors would you like to wear at the reveal?"

Two colors immediately popped into my head: Blue and red. I couldn't choose which one. Blue was one of the colors of the Osean flag and it could represent our patriotism if we wore it since some people might still believe we're traitors to the country. They'd be stupid in thinking that but it had to be taken into consideration. However, red represent one of the colors of my Razgriz Squadron. It showed the power and fierceness we possessed (and red also happened to be one of the colors I could wear really well).

"Blaze? This is up to you. You always were the fashionista even if you did go into the military," Genette said drolly.

"Shut up," I snapped airily. "Um, I think blue would be best, with it being Osean colors and whatnot. May I ask why we need colors?"

"So you girls can go shopping," a woman chirped, coming forward. "Hello, my name is Georgina but call me George. I'll be taking you shopping for a dress for the reveal. And boys, you have a much easier job. You have to go out shopping searching for blue ties. You will have some people helping you, don't worry. Come on girls, let's get going. We have a lot to do!"

George ushered us out, not even giving us a chance to say bye to our husbands which was rather funny because the expressions on our husbands' faces were priceless. There's not even a way to explain their expression.

We went down to the garage of Versailles to get into the black SUV that would drive to wherever our destination was. I had no idea. That seemed to be the usual lately. I'd been going through a phase where I just became very oblivious to everything. I was getting better, but I still had a tendency to run into poles and such things.

The ride was short and we pulled up in front of a dress store that looked very expensive. The girls and I looked at each other excitedly with one thing on our mind: We get to shop.

"All right girls," George said, "You chose blue as your color. Wait here while I have the shop clerks gather dresses for you to try on."

She disappeared, leaving me and my friends alone. We sat down on the couch, chattering with excitement about our clothes. I mean, we're girls. We love getting to dress up in fancy dresses. It took about ten minutes for the rack of dresses to come out. It only took about three dress changes for me to choose mine. The fabric was billowy yet slimming with a simple but beautiful embroidery on my left hip. I freaked out when I found out how much the dress cost, however George assured me cost was of no issue. Major found her dress next. It was very simple but I loved it due to its simplicity. There was no bedazzlement but the dress flowed regally out behind her. It suited her nicely. Nagase got her dress next. It looked sort of like Major's except that the ruching at the top was different along with a decently sized bedazzled belt. Then there was Cassie who went through at least twenty dresses before narrowing it down to ten. It went from five and finally to one. Her dress had a bedazzled trim at the top of the dress and a belt that sort of resembled leaves that were made of rhinestones and crystals.

Afterwards, we left, only to realize that in a little under a month, we'd be wearing these dresses in front of thousands, maybe millions of people. We quickly went from ecstatic to dead silence. I pretty much wanted to go hide in a hole at the mere thought of it. To be honest, standing in front of thousands and millions of viewers scared the hell out of me. I mean seriously, can you imagine? I'm a simple girl, I really am. I don't like all the shebang and fancy parties and flashy premieres and whatnot. But I had to do this.

How hard could it be?

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**So there was the first chapter of the Razgriz Mini Stories. Hope you enjoy! :) If you want to see the girls' dresses, tell me in a review. Speaking of reviews, you better review or no update! It's next chapter that will be the interview so if you want to see that, get to it and send in questions that you have for the Razgriz (Bartlett, Genette, Pops, Andersen, and Geller included) and for Galm because I have them planned too :) REVIEW PEOPLE!**


	2. Debut

**Who's excited for the reveal? I hope I can write this well. This is going to be really difficult… enjoy!**

**Chapter Quote:  
**"**I'm more interested in being good than being famous."  
****~Annie Leibovitz**

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Chapter 2: Debut

**Grimm**

"I'm not ready for this I'm not ready for this I'm not ready for this I'm not-"

"Cassie! Calm down. Everything's going to be fine!" I assured.

"You're a guy. Nothing bothers you. I'm a girl. We overthink everything. Do not tell me to calm down. I'm not even sure what type of smile I'm going to give the crowd. I mean, should I do the sweet, small one, the sly one, or just a big toothy one?"

"I'm going to give this one," Chopper said before scrunching up his face and widening his eyes.

"Don't do that! That's freaking scary!" Cassie whined as the rest of us started cracking up laughing. She sighed. "We'll see you in a few hours. The hair stylists and makeup artists wanted us to get there early so they could decide what to do."

"Maybe they can hide this pimple for me. All this stress over the premiere is making me break out," Nagase grouched.

"Since when did you become worried about how you look?" Genette queried. "You're naturally beautiful."

"Since I found out millions of people will be watching us live or on television, dear, but you're very sweet. Okay, let's go," Nagase urged. The girls gave their significant others kisses on the cheek before grouping together and walking to their room in the theater. I caught a glance of one of the makeup artists scurrying around doing… something.

"Girls will be girls," Snow mused.

"You guys ready for this?" I asked.

"Yeeeeeeeaaaahhhhhh-no. No I'm not," Chopper admitted, scratching the back of his head. "We have what… two hours to kill before we actually have to start getting ready?"

"Something like that. That's why I brought food," Bartlett's voice announced, carrying in bags of food. Pops, Anderson, Geller, Cipher, and Pixy were behind him. They had bags of food too. "When in wait, we eat."

Bartlett handed us each a bag of food. Upon opening it, I found a large, messy, pulled pork sandwich slathered in barbecue sauce.

"Bartlett, I love you," Chopper remarked, shoving his hand into the bag and pulling the sandwich out.

"Do I smell food?" Nagase poked her head out of her room. The guys and I quickly hid our bags behind our back, not wanting to share the delicious barbecue.

"What food?" I asked as I looked over at Chopper who had as entire mouth stuffed to the brim.

"Then why does Chopper look like a hamster?" Cassie inquired, sticking her head out the door as well. At that moment, Chopper gulped half of the food in his mouth.

"Cassie? Nagase? Can you come here really quick?" Major's voice floated from inside their room. The girls disappeared and shut the door. Our food was safe for now.

* * *

**Nagase**

"Yeah?" I asked Major after shutting the door.

"Blaze just got sick," she said gravely.

"What?!" I demanded.

"She thinks it's food poisoning. She's still in the bathroom."

"Could it be something else besides food poisoning?" I queried.

"Think it's morning sickness?" Cassie inquired. All three of us looked down at our stomachs. Major's protruded out the most since she was five months pregnant. Cassie was four, I was three.

"She'd tell us if she was pregnant though wouldn't she?" I remarked.

"You know she's hidden things before. Maybe she doesn't know she is or maybe she hasn't told anyone," Cassie pointed out. I didn't respond, deciding not to pursue the subject any farther. I didn't want to get on the topic; admittedly, we sometimes had trouble trusting Blaze after what she hid from us during the war. We would never admit to her that we'd been offended by it for her sanity because we knew she all felt horrible about it, but we had; we felt like she hadn't trusted us enough.

"Blaze?" I called out hesitantly. Within a few minutes, she came out of the bathroom, looking frighteningly pale.

"I'm okay. I think it's food poisoning mixed with nerves. That's not a good mixture for the record," Blaze said, stumbling over to the couch. I knelt in front of her.

"If you're not up to doing the premiere, you don't have to," Major commented gently.

"No, I have to do this. I've been in worse condition than this. If I can survive being stabbed in the stomach, I can survive a few hours without throwing up. Let my stomach just settle down, and then I'll be fine," she insisted with a smile. The girls and I sighed, knowing we wouldn't be able to convince her otherwise. Instead, we stood up and went to our designated chairs which were situated in front of mirrors so the hair stylists and makeup artists could see what they were doing (if need be), and we could see how we looked.

Blaze sat on the couch for a good thirty minutes before she went back to the bathroom to brush her teeth. She came out and sat in her chair, assuring her stylists she was fine now. I didn't necessarily believe her since she still looked sickly, but I let it go.

In the end, my hair had been pulled back into a slick ponytail. Cassie's had been straightened to absolute perfection, Major's had been pulled into a really complex, beautiful bun (how do these hair people do that? It's not normal), and Blaze's had been rolled and given a lot of volume. We looked at each other's hairdos, grinning like dorks. We loved it.

Next came makeup. All of our makeup was similar to each other's except for the foundation colors since some of us were tanner than the others. I had the darkest since I'd been outside so much. Cassie had the lightest. It amazed how much the makeup people could make my eyes just… pop. They kept my eyeliner light compared to Blaze whose eyeliner made her eyes look very catlike. But no matter what our eyeliner looked like, it perfectly suited our personalities which I believe is what the artists were going for. Finally, it was time to put on our dresses. Of course, the girls and I fought over who got the bathroom first since there was only one in the room, and we didn't want to risk going to one outside of our room and having one of the boys see us. We're weird like that. Major won out. Cassie went next; I went after Cassie. Blaze voluntarily went last.

Finally we got on our dresses and shoes. We all glared at Blaze who had chosen to wear four inch heels which made her six foot tall. She towered over the rest of us.

"Y'all ready?" Blaze inquired, putting on her jewelry.

I snorted. "No. Do we really have to do this?"

"Unfortunately. Okay. Everyone have their jewelry in?"

"Yep. Let's roll out cub scouts!" Cassie hollered.

"Shouldn't it be girl scouts since we're not boys?" I noted.

"So picky," she retorted. I smirked but said nothing. The four of us walked out in the waiting area. All the boys, Genette, Chopper, Grimm, Snow, Bartlett, Anderson, Pops, Geller, Cipher, and Pixy were there. They were dressed in sharp black suits. Pixy and Cipher were the only ones with red ties since they were representing Ustio more than Osea. I realized, ironically, that they were wearing white, red, and black: the colors of the Ustian flag.

It amused me that even though we were outnumbered by guys, we could still convince them to do almost whatever we wanted them to.

"You all look absolutely beautiful," Anderson praised, coming up to give each of us a hug and all but Bartlett, Chopper, Grimm, and Genette followed; those four simply stood stupefied.

"It's like a repeat of our wedding days," Blaze mused drolly, staring at the four gaping boys.

"Let's hope they regain their wits before they have to say something," I said.

"At least I regained my ability to talk before my vows unlike someone whose initials begin with Grimm!" Chopper exclaimed.

"Shut it, hamster!" Grimm snapped, his cheeks flushing deeply.

I walked up and greeted my husband with a kiss, which broke him out of his trance. I then hugged Chopper, whispering to him, "Blaze was sick earlier. Keep an eye on her and don't let her know I told you."

"Deal," he replied quietly. He walked over to his wife and slipped his hand into hers. Those two were still as madly in love with each other as the day they first started dating.

"Now we have… what? An hour before _we_ actually go on?" Genette asked.

"Well, you go on in an hour. We go on in like… an hour thirty," Chopper grumbled. "Well, at least Cipher and Pixy have to do this first so the rest of us can learn what to do and what not to do."

"Thanks for reminding us that we have to go out there first," Pixy said. "That makes us feel really good."

"Anytime my good man."

"Good evening everyone," President Harling greeted. We greeted him with cheerful hellos. "Pops, Bartlett, if you will come with me, you two are to introduce the Galm Team and Demon Lord. And Cipher, I have a surprise for you."

A guy, shorter than the rest of the guys, approached us. He had a mirthful expression, telling me he loved to laugh. He had brown hair and blue eyes. I liked him immediately.

"Hey Cipher. Long time no see, friend," the guy said.

"PJ!" Cipher exclaimed, his mouth dropping open. Blaze's uncle gave the new guy a hug. "It's great to see you!"

"Same to you! God, finally I get to brag that I know the Demon Lord," PJ laughed.

Cipher grinned. "Let me introduce you to everyone." Cipher quickly named off everyone. "Everyone, this is PJ Beckett, my old wingman."

We stayed a chatted with him for a few minutes before Harling urged PJ, Pops, Bartlett, Cipher, and Pixy to follow him, leaving me and the Razgriz behind. We went to the lounge area where we turned on the TV to the news channel to watch our own premiere.

Harling walked onto the stage with Nikanor (I didn't even know he'd been here). First on the agenda was to listen to the national anthem. For this, everyone, including us, stood up with our hands over our hearts. In fact, Chopper started singing along (off key might I add) and we joined in with him. Afterwards, Harling began to speak: "Good evening ladies and gentleman, and welcome the premiere I know many of you have been waiting for. It has been my honor to meet two very profound squadrons from the Belkan and Circum-Pacific War: the Galm Team and the Demons of Razgriz. I have had the honor of getting to know each individual and becoming personal friends with all of them. The sacrifices they have made for their country are extraordinary, and had it not been for them, the two wars might have gone on longer than they did. These two squadrons aided in uniting militaries together, some even from the enemy military. For their protection, their identities have been kept in secret for some time. For the Galm Team, almost twenty years. For the Razgriz, just about two years."

Harling stepped aside, allowing for Nikanor to step up. In his clipped accent, the Prime Minister of Yuktobania said: "I have also had the honor of knowing the two teams, the Demons of Razgriz more than the Galm Team, but from the meetings I had with the latter, they have my utmost respect. I first found the Razgriz as my enemy, but little did I know, they were in reality my friend, for they helped make it possible for me to be rescued from a coup d'état. There, however, will be more on that later. It is my pleasure to introduce Captain Jack 'Heartbreak One' Bartlett, and Peter N. Beagle, callsign 'Pops.' They have had personal experiences flying with the Demon Lord and one of his companions."

Pops and Bartlett strode out onto stage; well, more like Bartlett strutted out onto the stage. Pops spoke first. "During the Belkan War, I went AWOL after being ordered to drop one of the seven nukes on my own country. I fled to the Round Table where I entered one of the most intense battles I have fought in. In those skies, I came face to face with the one and only Demon Lord. He shot down the people who were after me after checking to make sure I wasn't coming after him. Thanks to him, I escaped from being killed by my own country."

Bartlett then came on. "I met the Demon Lord and Pops here on the same day. Difference was, I was on the Demon Lord's side at the beginning. I thought I was a good flyer. Then I saw him and I was quickly knocked into my senses. There is a reason we won that war and the Demon Lord is that reason. I would like to introduce his first wingman, Larry 'Solo Wing Pixy' Foulke."

Pixy strode up onto the stage, looking much calmer than he'd been acting earlier. How he pulled that off, I'd really like to know so I could do the same thing. I didn't have to go on stage for another hour and the butterflies in my stomach were rapidly turning into stampeding cows.

"Hello everyone, I'm Pixy, and the Demon Lord was my friend and my enemy. He's my friend now, thank god," Pixy chuckled. "The first day I flew with him, I knew he had potential to be something great. I never imagined he'd be the hero of the entire war. I also owe him my life. After I defected from the Ustian Air Force to the Belkan Air Force, I went head to head against the Demon Lord. I knew his flying style, and I knew that he had the ultimate capability of shooting me down and killing me. I don't know why, but he didn't. For that, I'm grateful. It gave me time to redeem myself. I ended up fighting with ISAF and then being invited to search for Waldemarr Rald. The Demon Lord was more than just a friend or an enemy to me. He was my buddy. I would now like to introduce Patrick James Beckett, or PJ as his friends call him."

PJ entered onto the stage and took the microphone from Pixy. If PJ had any hatred for the guy that had shot him down and nearly killed him, be certainly hid it well. "I served with the Demon Lord after his previous wingman left. The Demon Lord had already gained recognition in the military, so I was already intimidated to be flying with him. I quickly learned that although he was famous, none of it had gone to his head. I had the honor of flying with him until the very last mission where I was unfortunately shot down. I lost touch with him after that. And now, for the first time since almost twenty years ago, I got to see my captain, wingman, and best friend again. And I am happy to be the one to introduce him to the world. Ladies and gentlemen, Jason 'Cipher' Banks, a.k.a. The Demon Lord!"

The cheering went wild before Blaze's uncle even walked onto the stage. It only got louder when he did. He was smiling amiably, but I could tell he was nervous as hell. He walked up to the people who had talked about him, shaking hands and giving bro hugs. He went to the microphone and cleared his throat. "Wow, uh, first of all thank you so much for the applause. I did not expect it to be so enthusiastic," Cipher laughed nervously as more applause ensued. "To Bartlett and Pops, I had no idea I did those things for you, but I'm glad I helped you out. To PJ, thanks for being there for me after my old wingman left. You were a great fighter pilot then and I'm sorry I couldn't save you from being shot down. To Pixy, we've had our problems, a.k.a. us trying to kill each other, but you'll always be my buddy, and I'm glad we're on the same side again. To Ustio, thank you for taking me in when I pretty much had nowhere else to go. To the allied forces, thank you for fighting alongside with me. We couldn't have won that war without you, no matter what my comrades here said. I do believe those missions could've been won without me."

"I see modesty runs in the family," Bartlett commented. The crowd laughed.

"Yes, I happen to be the uncle of the Leader of the Razgriz and also the reporter who first discovered them, since, well, they're siblings. But more on that later, I promise. Bartlett's getting me all distracted," Cipher said with a smirk.

"Something had to loosen you up. You're tense as a… I can't think of a good word," PJ mused.

"Well yes I am nervous considering I'm speaking in front of millions and millions of people. Now shush! I'm trying to get through this speech without messing up!" Cipher attempted to chastise but he was obviously trying not to laugh.

"That didn't work so well," Pixy mused.

"Thanks to y'all," Cipher pointed out drolly. "Okay, back to where I left off. Actually, I only have a few more things to say. This is to my two wingmen: Pixy and PJ. They never served under my wing at the same time, but without them, I would've died. They saved my necks more times than I can remember and if it weren't for them, I wouldn't have gotten to go back home to my family. And to the citizens and soldiers affected by the war, on either side, I'm sorry. I know I caused a lot of damage to many cities and wreaked havoc in peoples' lives. I didn't think much about it then, but it weighs a lot on my conscience now. I plan to never fly in the skies of battle again unless I find it absolutely necessary. Hopefully, our world will never come to such a state again. Thank you so much for the warm welcome and now I will pass the microphone back over to President Harling, who will introduce the people we all know you all really came to see."

Cipher backed down from the microphone, giving an obvious sign of relief to be away from the thing.

"Razgriz, it's time for you to get ready. Blaze, Nagase, Chopper, Grimm, and Snow, come with me. Cassie, Major, Geller, Anderson and Genette, follow Jane out here to the entrance to the stage for your speeches. Cassie gave Grimm a kiss, whispering words of encouragement that everything would be fine. I gave Genette a kiss and he did the same thing.

"Everything will be fine," he assured me. "You don't have to say much."

"I know. I got this," I breathed. "I'll see you soon."

He left with the others, leaving me with my squadron.

* * *

**Cipher**

When Harling stepped back up to the microphone, I let out a sigh of relief; except for the others bantering with me, my speech had gone flawlessly. Now I just had to give one more…

"Earlier I mentioned I have become personal friends with both the Galm Team and the Demons of Razgriz. Having introduced the Galm Team, it is not time to reveal the heroes of the most recent war: the Circum-Pacific. Before I share my story of my first meeting with the Razgriz, I would like to introduce Albert Genette Banks, the reporter who discovered the unparalleled talent of the famous, black-winged fighter squadron."

My nephew came out looking calm, collected, and sharp. I could practically hear all the single women in the room oohing over him. He smiled.

"Amidst the eternal waves of time,  
From a ripple of change shall the storm rise.  
Out of the abyss peer the eyes of a demon  
Behold the Razgriz, its wings of black sheath

The demon soars through the dark skies  
Fear and Death trail its shadow beneath.  
Until Men united wield a hallowed sabre  
In the final reckoning, the beast is slain.

As the demon sleeps, man turns on man  
Its own blood and madness soon cover the earth.  
From the depths of despair awaken the Razgriz  
Its raven wings ablaze in majestic light."

Genette finished the poem and a collective breath from the audience was let out. The poem had been hauntingly beautiful and frighteningly accurate. It had been written even before the Razgriz Squadron had been created. Genette continued with his speech: "The poem I just recited is probably the most accurate description of the Razgriz from a person who did not have firsthand experience with them. With their part in the war, which you will learn all about, you will learn their paths have not always been easy.

"As Harling said, I am the one who discovered the Demons of Razgriz, but at the time, they had not been yet given that title. The first time I met them, they were under the wing of Captain Bartlett here, part of the Wardog Squadron. So to all of you conspiracy theorists out there, I am confirming for you that the Wardog Squadron, also commonly called the Four Wings of Sand Island, is indeed the Razgriz Squadron. I did not know that I had met the people who would be the most famous, or infamous, whichever you may choose, figures of the war. They fought for Osea originally, and then, being branded traitors, fled from their country to the safety of Captain Anderson's ship, the magnificent _Kestrel_. From there, they did not fight for just Osea. They did not fight for just themselves. They fought for the Osea, Yuktobania, and Belka. They fought for those citizens and soldiers of those countries who wanted the war to end. For many soldiers, they did not know what they were fighting for until the Razgriz revealed to them the treachery of what the Grey Men had done. The Razgriz befriended not only Osean and Yuktobanian soldiers, but also a few Belkans as well. The first Belkan I would like to introduce is Jens Geller, the only person to go to when there's an unbreakable code to crack."

Geller took to the podium, smiling. He looked surprisingly at ease. "My first meeting with the Razgriz happened in an interrogation room. I had been guarding President Harling in Stier Castle which is located near one of the seven craters created by the nukes. I was then captured by the forces of Sea Goblin after I sort of… jumped from the roof of a castle onto a helicopter in midair. Not one of my smartest decisions, but it did lead me to one of the most important decisions of my life. It led me to a group of people who at the time, were severely judged by the people they were fighting for. The captain is the one who convinced me to help them decode the plans of the Belkan Grey Men which led to the discovery of the V2 weapon. I owe the Razgriz more than they know. Not only did they give me a reason to fight for, but they also gave me hope the war would end, and they did not fail me. I would now like to invite Harling back to the microphone and let him recite his experience with the Razgriz."

"Thank you Geller," Harling said, stepping to the podium. "Ironically, the first two times I spoke to the Razgriz, they were rescuing me. First time, they were called Wardog, and the captain of my plane had been killed by a spy. They helped my secretary land the massive Air Force One plane safely on the ground. Of course, then I was kidnapped which they didn't know about until a few months later when they rescued me from Stier Castle. The disposition of the squadron had changed. I had sensed they'd become even deadlier since the first time I met and saw them, particularly the captain. When I met them in person, I never expected to find a squadron made up of such young soldiers. Even more surprising was the captain was the youngest of all. With their help, I was able to get back into Osea and regain the power I had lost. And now, speaking of power, I will hand the microphone over to Nikanor."

"Hello again," Nikanor greeted. "My meeting with the Razgriz was unfortunately too brief, for I owe them much. Captain Bartlett and a group of resistance rescued me, and for that, they will forever have my gratitude. But even Bartlett agrees with me that without the Razgriz's air support, we would not have been able to escape. I owe not only Bartlett and his resistance group my life, but also the Razgriz. For that, I thank them. Now, Pixy is next to speak."

"Like Prime Minister Nikanor here, I did not see much of the Razgriz until after the war was over. I had been held captive in Stier Castle with President Harling with the charges of treason in the last war. When I was rescued by the Razgriz, I had no idea that, first of all, Genette and the leader of the Razgriz had my old captain as an uncle, and that secondly, I had just met the most important people in the war. These people had a way of convincing others to help them with their cause. Henri Rald is one such person."

Gasps went around the room as the son of one of the most hated men in the world stepped up into the spotlight. "My name is Henri Rald. For the record, I am never going to be a politician. I don't want the stress," Henri joked nervously. The crowd responded affably. "I did not meet the Razgriz up in the air. In fact, the first time I met them, I only met one. The leader, actually. They had been captured by my father and in a rare moment where I was left alone with them, they persuaded me to help them. To this day, I will never understand _how_ they persuaded me, but they did, and with that, I was able to meet the rest. I have never met a kinder, more compassionate military squadron in my life. Growing up with the Belkan military all around me, I thought all militaries were the same. The Razgriz proved me wrong. They taught me how to care again, as I didn't have much to care about in my life before. One of the most caring people, although not a pilot, knew the Razgriz long before they were even on Sand Island. That person is Cassie 'Venus' Peterson."

Cassie, with her blonde hair shining in the light, took over Henri's place. "I can't believe I'm up here getting to talk about my friends. I was a RIO for one of the fighter pilots for the Razgriz, who is now my husband. I knew Razgriz One and Three from a time before they were in the military. I grew up with them, and let me tell you, none of us had any notion we'd be where we are today. But when I went to Sand Island and I met the rest of the squadron, I expected them to be friends. But they turned out to be so much more. They turned out to be my family. I was with them from day one on their twisted journey to where they are now. We suffered a lot of heartbreak, but we also experienced a lot of joy together. If I knew what I know now back then, I would still go through with it because I know I can do anything as long as my family is with me. And talking about family, I'll pass the mic on over to the incredible Jason Banks, the uncle of the leader of the Razgriz and my best friend Genette."

"I'm back at the mic. Let's hope my friends don't interrupt me this time," I said amusedly. "The two kids I'm the uncle of knew my identity as the Demon Lord for a long time. They were both extremely trustworthy kids, so you can imagine my surprise when I received the call from my sister saying the Wardog Squadron had been shot down and presumably killed along with the reporter who'd been writing articles about them. I had heard things about that squadron, and I knew Genette and Blaze, the leader, were in it. I knew they would never do such a thing, nor would any of the people they surrounded themself with. Turns out my intuition was right. I got a call from them a little while later, telling me my own frenemy was on the Kestrel. Thanks to the leader of the Razgriz, I was actually able to reunite with Pixy a lot sooner than I thought I would. I thank them for that. I'm extremely proud that I know them all and that I got to see them go on their final mission. If it weren't for them, Oured wouldn't be here, nor would most of us. Bartlett, it's your turn again."

"This is getting long isn't it?" Bartlett chuckled. "The Razgriz, when they were under my wing, were called the Wardog squadron. I only had three of the four since the fourth joined after I'd disappeared. I didn't know I had what would be the most renowned squadron in the war when they were under my wing. I thought they were regular nuggets. I'll admit, I was pretty harsh on one of them; I honestly thought they'd get shot down. Well, they obviously showed me up." Bartlett grinned. "But the first battle, I saw something in them I hadn't seen in other nuggets. I saw a type of team that worked flawlessly together. They had a mutual understanding of each other. Mix that with their natural flying ability, and you had the beginnings of a deadly team. And yes, I do brag that I am trained the famous squadron because that's just me and unlike the Razgriz leader and Cipher over here, I sometimes eighty-six on the modesty.

"After I escaped from Yuktobania with the help of the Razgriz, I was reunited with my nuggets on the Kestrel, where I also met Captain Nicholas Anderson."

The white haired captain walked over to where Bartlett stood and cleared his throat. "My old ship, the _Kestrel_, is where the Demons of Razgriz were born. The squadron at least. They had been the Razgriz long before. I had the pleasure of watching them go off on sorties and being a part of their adopted family. I had never met such an amazing group of fighter pilots in all my years, especially one so young. I saw them launch to go to Sudentor where they attempted and succeeded in one of the most dangerous flights known to man. They flew through a tunnel, underground, destroyed the control panel to the V2 weapon, and flew out the other end. Kudos to Captain Bartlett for doing the same thing from the opposite direction. I have not seen a squadron from either Osea, Yuktobania, or Belka that could match their prowess on the battlefield. The first time I saw them fighting with my own eyes is when I understood why the enemy was so scared of them. I was proud to be the captain of the ship they based themselves out of. When they came to me, they'd just gone through one of the most horrific situations a soldier can experience; they lost one of their own _and_ only a little while later, had to flee as supposed traitors to Osea. With them came the one and only, Colonel Peter N. Beagle. Or as everyone affectionately calls him, Pops. Here he is ladies and gentlemen."

"No one's going to be listening to me. They'll all be too eager to see my former pupils since I'm the second to last speaker. And speaking of them, I have watched them become what they are from the very beginning of their career. I was there when they were first assigned to Bartlett's group. I was there during their first sortie. I was there when Wardog Four was promoted to Wardog One after only two missions. I was there when the new Wardog Four joined the squadron. I was there when Wardog Three crashed into the November Stadium, saving thousands of lives in the process. I was there when they were branded as traitors, and I led them to the safety of the Kestrel with the much appreciated help of Captain Anderson and Sea Goblin. I was there when they rescued Harling, when they were made his personal air fleet, when they were given the name the Demons of Razgriz, when they rescued Bartlett and Nikanor, and when they launched off of the Kestrel when half of it was underwater. I also saw them defeat the two most powerful Belkan Air Force Squadrons to date: Ofnir and Grabacr. I always knew this group of people had something special to them, but I never imagined this."

I turned my head to the back of the stage where five curtains suddenly lighted up, showing the silhouette of five people standing behind them. It was impossible to tell whether they were male or female though. That had been Harling's idea. We didn't want them to know Blaze was a female. It would add a lot of shock to the whole thing since not many people would expect a woman to lead a squadron to this type of recognition, you know?

"Hello everyone. I am Major Nastasya Bartlett, a Recon Major from the mighty Yuktobanian military. I have been given the honor of getting to introduce the world not only to the pilots of the Razgriz Squadron, but also people who I now consider family.

"We start off with Razgriz Five, who was originally a fighter on the Kestrel and was given the position as Razgriz Three and moved to the position of Razgriz Five. I give to you Captain Marcus 'Swordsman' Snow!" Major announced. The curtain on the farthest side of the left part of the stage rose up, showing Snow standing tall and proud in the spotlight. The applause was thunderous.

"Next we have Razgriz Four, who was originally a part of the Wardog squadron as Wardog Four; he became a part of the squadron during an air raid on Sand Island. He then became Wardog Three when the previous one crashed into November Stadium, and was then named Razgriz Four when the Demons of Razgriz were made President Harling's personal fleet and when Captain Snow joined the team. I introduce to you Captain Hans 'Archer' Grimm!" The curtain on the farthest side of the right part of the stage rose, revealing a very nervous but smiling Grimm. His age definitely showed right then, a reminder to everyone in the room just how young this squadron really was.

"For the next person, he has been through quite a lot. He started out with the Wardog Squadron as Wardog Three and stayed in that position until, on the squadron's seventeenth mission, his plane was damaged in battle. Rather than bailing out and allowing his plane to crash into the stadium where hundreds of people had still not evacuated, he kept flying and fighting. His choice almost cost him his life. He was found and taken to the hospital where hardly any of his memory of his life remained. He was then taken prisoner for over six months by Waldemarr Rald's forces. When the Razgriz found out it was their missing member, he was immediately reinstated to his former position, except his new title was Razgriz Three. I present to Captain Alvin 'Chopper' Davenport!"

The curtain next to Snow rose up, revealing a beaming Chopper. He had a mischievous smirk in his eyes that I knew just captivated everyone in the audience. My nephew-in-law just had that aura about him that made almost everyone like him immediately.

"Next up is a woman who has been with the squadron from beginning to end. She started out as Wardog Two, and stayed that way until her title changed to Razgriz Two. She was shot down in the middle of a snow storm, helped her injured rescue team trek across the snowy hills and evaded enemy soldiers sent to capture them. In fact, she held them at bay with just a simple handgun until Sea Goblin rescued her. Her tenacity is incredible and I am happy to introduce Captain Kei 'Edge' Nagase."

The curtain next to Grimm rose up. Nagase looked incredible in her striking blue dress. The bedazzled belt captured the spotlight and made her glow even more than she already was. The dress even hid her baby bump which the girls had teased her about.

"And finally, the captain and leader of the Razgriz. This person, from what I've heard, has gone through more changes than anyone else. They had more responsibility in four months than some people of the same rank have had in their entire career. They decided to fly into the tunnel in Sudentor as the way to destroy the control panel. They have been called an ace by not only their wingmen and their former captain, but also by the enemy. They started out as Wardog Four, given the position of Wardog One when their captain was shot down, and then given the title as Razgriz One. It is my honor to give you, the one and only, Captain Elizabeth 'Blaze' Banks!"

The middle and last curtain rose up, showing my niece. The applause for the other four members of the squadron had been loud, but for Blaze, it was deafening. A simultaneous gasp from the crowd accompanied the applause. I knew they'd be shocked a woman had led the squadron.

"Osea, Yuktobania, Belka, and to all the other countries watching right now, I give to you the Demons of Razgriz!" Major informed. Everyone in the audience stood up. For ten minutes, they clapped and hollered and cheered. Blaze and Nagase were blushing furiously. Grimm, Chopper, and Snow grinned so wide I thought the expressions might stick permanently on their faces.

Finally, Harling managed to get the cheering down to only thunderous applause. The stands the Razgriz were on slowly began to lower, and within a minute, they were walking down onto the stage over to President Harling. He shook hands with each member and whispered something to Blaze. She blanched but said yes. She stepped up to the microphone. Chopper stood behind her and discreetly took her hand in his. I guess he could tell how nervous she was.

"Hello everyone, I'm Blaze. First off, thank you everyone for coming. I did not expect there to be so many people here," Blaze said.

"More like she was hoping no one would be here so it wouldn't be as nerve-wracking," Bartlett commented. Blaze's head dropped down as she started laughing.

"Truer words have never been spoken," She finally said. "But really thank you all for coming. Second, thank you to all the people who made tonight happen. If I started naming everyone, we'd be here for three more hours, I'm pretty sure no one wants that to happen. Third, I would like to say thank you to the people who are a part of the Razgriz family that have not been introduced. While probably everyone thinks of my squadron when speaking of the Demons of Razgriz, we're just the poster children for the Razgriz. It's the people behind the scenes that made it possible for the Razgriz to even happen. That would be the entire crew of the Kestrel. They are currently in the audience from what Anderson has told me, so if they would please stand up so they can get the recognition they truly deserve. My squadron, Pops, and I thank you so much for helping us out when we had nowhere else to go. We would not be here if it weren't for you and Captain Anderson."

The members that had been the crew on the Kestrel stood up. Everyone cheered for them. One of the guys in the front had teared up. I'm pretty sure he hadn't been expecting her to say that.

"Finally, for the finale of this premiere, my incredible big brother, Genette, compiled a film for y'all of pictures and videos of us not just as the Razgriz, but also as Wardog, and our time after the war ended. I hope you enjoy." Blaze stepped down from the podium and a huge screen lowered from the ceiling all the way down to the floor. All the people on stage sat down in chairs on the side. We'd already seen the film, but I still looked forward to seeing it on the big screen.

The lights dimmed and the movie started playing; the song was "This is War" by Thirty Seconds to Mars. When the song mentioned the prophet, the video showed a picture of Blaze. We all looked at her, making her look sheepish. It showed some video clips of the air battles over Sand Island, it showed video clips of the battle when the Yuktobanian navy joined forces with the Kestrel. It showed Chopper, Grimm, and Snow laughing it up at something in the living room at Versailles Palace. That had actually been taken a few months ago. There was a picture of Genette and Blaze when she'd been in the hospital. They'd both been smiling. There were wedding pictures of everyone. Genette even managed to get pictures of me and Pixy in there. Geller appeared in a few, too.

When the video was over, there was another round of standing ovation. Blaze and Chopper were talking to each other about something. Chopper nodded and went to the microphone.

"Wow! What a crowd!" He exclaimed. "I got to say, this night has been absolutely incredible. Again, thank you to everyone who made it possible for this to happen. I'm afraid that video is the end of this premiere. Everyone, our interview will be live tomorrow starting at seven in the morning central time. We apologize now for any random bickering that may occur between us. We're kind of prone to that. Thank you so much for being here and we hope you'll tune in for the interview. Good night everyone!"

Chopper was a natural at speaking to large crowds. He had the charisma for it. The Razgriz waved at the crowd, smiling big, toothy grins, before exiting the stage.

Once out of sight from the cheering crowd, all the girls took off their heels. The boys and I cringed at how pointy those things were. First off, how did they walk in them? Second, _why_ would they wear those? And three, remind me to never piss off any of the girls when they're wearing those heels. One stomp and I'll have a heel embedded in the center of my foot.

"That was insane," Cassie said, leaning into Grimm.

"I hate being in front of large crowds," Blaze mumbled.

"That's what your husband is for," Bartlett laughed. "Guy's a freaking natural."

"If I can play football in front of a very judgmental high school student body, this is nothing. Let's get home. I'm exhausted."

"Got the interview tomorrow," I said, walking with the group towards our changing rooms.

"I hope I don't say something stupid," Nagase mused worriedly.

"We'll be fine. We'll save you from sounding stupid if you do," Chopper consoled drolly.

"I'm not sure if I should thank you or slap you for that."

"Preferably the former."

"I'll think about it. No promises." The girls went into their changing room while the guys and I headed to ours.

* * *

**Blaze**

My stomach hadn't stopped churning the entire premiere. How I didn't throw up during all that time, I'll never know. I quickly changed into sweatpants, a tee shirt, and a very loose, very warm jacket. I put on fuzzy slippers too to warm my feet. I plopped down on the couch, waiting patiently for my friends. I let my mind stray. My first thoughts went to food. I was starving, and I wanted ice cream. All I had to do was bat my eyes at Chopper, and he'd give in. He was a sucker for me and ice cream. Combine the two and he stands no chance. Next my thoughts traveled to the premiere. It had been completely crazy and awesome and scary at the same time. I wasn't sure what to think now that practically the whole world knew who I was. I knew my life would be forever different, but hopefully it would be in a good way. Lastly, my thoughts went to my best friends, the pregnant ones I mean. Major and Cassie's babies just started to kick. It had been so weird the first time I felt it. Seriously, there's a little human growing inside them and between all the fat, muscle, and skin, you can still feel them kicking. The kicking led me to think about if and when I become pregnant and the baby inherits my leg muscles (or their father's for that matter), I'm going to be screwed. The baby will probably kick its way out of my stomach. Then I started to think about if I had twins and how painful that amount of kicking would be.

"Blaze? Yoo hoo! Earth to Blaze!" Nagase hollered.

"I'm up!" I claimed, bolting into sitting position.

"What were you thinking about?"

"Babies."

"Are you-" Nagase began excitedly.

"No." I cut her off. She looked crestfallen. I'll admit, it felt weird being the only girl in the room who wasn't expecting a kid or anything.

"Are you ever going to have children?"

"One day."

"You're not getting any younger," she sang.

"I'm still enjoying not having to throw up every day," I countered.

"Shut it…" she snapped. I smirked. Nagase had had some bad morning sickness. It was true though. I don't really want to be sick almost every day, multiple times a day. That's really not fun…

The girls and I walked outside to where the armored escort vehicles were waiting for us, one for each couple. Chopper was already waiting for me outside.

"Do we have ice cream at home?" I queried, getting inside the vehicle.

"Just bought two cartons of plain vanilla, a bottle of chocolate syrup, sprinkles, chocolate chip cookies, and four cartons of different Ben and Jerry's ice cream yesterday. That work?" He inquired.

"You're the best," I said. My husband smiled and kissed me on the head.

When we got home, we went straight for the fridge and ate ice cream until eleven (we got home at nine). I took a shower, put on my pajamas, and got into bed, curling up into a little ball under the covers because I was freezing my butt off.

However, exhaustion took over and I fell asleep within minutes.

* * *

**So that was really long. Wow. To those of you on fanfiction who want to see the facial expression Chopper made in the beginning of the chapter, go onto google, type in "Wisegirl502 wattpad" and the first result should be my profile page for wattpad :) This story will be on here so just go to the second chapter and the picture will be located on the right hand side of the screen (you might have to scroll down a little to see it). Please review!**


	3. Discourse

**Let's get this updated shall we? Thank you to all who reviewed the last chapter :) (KeyBladeMidnight, admljmc, and Doran Maya).**

**Thank you to Doran Maya, Just a Crazy-Man, Templar Marshal, TheShadeOps, and killsjoy for putting this story on their story alert list!**

**Thank you to Doran Maya, Just a Crazy-Man, KeyBladeMidnight, and TheShadeOps for putting this story on their favorites list :)**

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter Quote:  
**"**In the end, love wins. It does win. We know it wins. When a person dies, love isn't turned off like a faucet. It is an amazingly resilient part of us."  
****~J.K. Rowling**

* * *

Chapter 3: Discourse

**Chopper**

"You really need to stop wearing four inch heels, Blaze," Nagase remarked as we walked from one end of Versailles Palace to the other. My wife somehow strutted down the carpeted hallway in heels that were so pointed they could be considered a weapon. She could literally probably take off the shoe and stab someone with it.

"Why?" Blaze queried.

"You're tall enough already. You make me feel short wearing those."

"Nagase. You're wearing three inch heels," my wife pointed out with a smirk.

"You're five-eight normally and your heels make you six foot," Nagase argued.

"Yes, but you're also five-seven. Add in the three inches and you're five-ten. You're not short Nagase. Why are you wearing heels though when you're pregnant? Doesn't it hurt with the extra… weight?"

"Yes, but something on me has to looks skinny. Have you seen my arms? They're getting flabby! Look!" Nagase shook her arm. I saw nothing. Those pregnancy hormones had been getting to her. "The only things not growing in size are my legs so I'm going to flaunt those for as long as I can."

"First of all, your arms look fine. Second, your legs will always look good, and third, do you need a Snickers?"

"Shut up."

We laughed. Nagase had been abnormally feisty since she'd found out she'd been pregnant. Most of us knew when and when not to tease her. Obviously, we found it safe just then. I started wondering how Blaze would be with the pregnancy hormones raging through her. I pushed the thoughts out of my head immediately because let's face it, my wife would be more stubborn and headstrong than she is now, and that's saying something.

We reached the interview room. It had been unanimously decided between us it would be easier to do a group interview rather than single ones and then a big group one. With three of the four girls pregnant, we didn't want to put any more stress on them than they already had. When we entered the formal living room which had temporarily been converted into an interviewing room, we were blinded by the sunlight. I guess they were warming up the room since the heater was having trouble warming up the building due to the negative temperatures outside. Brett Thompson paced in front of the window until he realized we had come in. A smile lit up his face. He nearly ran over to us, held out his hand, and said excitedly, "It's an honor to meet all of you."

We shook his hand and replied with kind answers.

"Well, why don't you take a seat and we'll get started," he suggested. There were fourteen, nicely cushioned, yet small chairs in front of the camera. The seven in front were meant for the Razgriz Squadron, Cassie, and Genette. The seven behind, on elevated platforms, were meant for Pops, Geller, Andersen, Bartlett, Major, Pixy, and Cipher.

Blaze and I took the middle chairs. Nagase sat next to Blaze with Genette sitting on the other side of her. Snow took the seat besides Genette. Grimm sat next to me with Cassie on his other side. Cipher sat behind his niece, flanked by Pixy and Bartlett. Geller sat next to Pixy, Major sat next to Bartlett, Pops sat next to Geller, and Andersen sat next to Major. We had easily seated ourselves with little direction. The film crew sat in different locations; three sat behind Brett. Two others flanked the sides of our chairs so they could get an angle on Brett, and two more stood angled, a semi-decent distance away as to get a good group shot of the fourteen of us.

"And we start in three! Two! One!" the manager of the interview started before he mouthed the word 'Go!'

Brett started flawlessly, as if he was born for this. "Good morning ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for joining us. Last night, we met the heroes of two separate wars: the Belkan War and the Circum-Pacific War. Today, we get an insight from those people on how they felt during the war to their future plans. I would like to introduce you to everyone again." He named us off one by one respectively. I actually started to feel nervous. "So, we will start with the group questions. This one is for the Razgriz Squadron. What was it like flying through that tunnel in Sudentor? Who came up with the idea?"

"At first I was really petrified to be honest. The feeling of being trapped underneath thousands of tons of rock in a moving object going over five hundred miles an hour is nerve-wracking. Add to the fact that we had to dodge obstacles in the narrow tunnels and had planes shooting at us from behind, it's petrifying. But I started to figure, 'Hey, we've made it this far. We've already flown through narrower tunnels than this. I can do this.' And I just pushed the thought that I might die in there out of my head and focused on getting out alive," Grimm explained.

"Mine's sort of similar to Grimm's. I mean, yes, I was nervous as hell flying through that thing, but I trusted my captain to lead us to safety, and that was enough for me to keep calm," Nagase said.

"And fly on?" I joked. That earned me a laugh from my comrades and a slap on the arm by Nagase.

"It was by far the most psychotic thing I've done in my life while flying a plane. I never thought I would ever do something like that, but I'm glad I had the challenge, and I'm glad I had Blaze leading the way. I don't believe we would've survived with someone else other than her," Snow complimented.

Blaze blushed profusely. "You all would've done just fine without me."

"I would like to make this statement known immediately: she is way too modest for her own good. She downplays her feats so when she's describing something, imagine it… oh, about fifty times harder," Bartlett interrupted. "Now, you may continue."

"I'm not modest! I'm telling the truth!" Blaze protested innocently. She looked really young at the moment, I noticed. I reminded myself we were all still pretty young, at my squadron was.

"Blaze, how did you feel flying through the tunnel?" Brett inquired, showing an avid curiosity. I think this guy was actually really interested in what we were saying because at first, he acted so enthusiastic when he met us I figured he only took the job on because he simply wanted to meet us and that was it. He surprised me.

"To be honest, I wasn't really that scared," she admitted sheepishly.

"I think that's the only non-modest sentence we've ever gotten out of her," Bartlett joked.

Blaze smiled as she shook her head ever so slightly. "It's true though. I wasn't really that scared though, and someone would have to be off their rocker to suggest a stunt like that let alone go through with it. Well, I _was_ off my rocker. At the time, I wasn't all…" she trailed off, trying to think of the right word.

"Sane?" Grimm suggested drolly.

"Yourself?" Genette chimed in.

"There?" Nagase offered.

"Uh, how about Genette's?" Blaze said. "I guess that's the best description. I was sane, and I knew what was going on, but I wasn't necessarily myself at the time. I had been really screwed up because of all that had happened to us in such a short period of time. We'd been branded traitors, we'd been 'shot down,' we'd waited in freezing waters to be rescued or shot because we didn't know what would happen if someone found us, and we'd lost a comrade. It was a lot to comprehend, and so flying through a tunnel just seemed small to me compared to everything else because it was just one big thing, not multiple big things put together in a short amount of time if that makes sense. And the answer to your earlier question about who suggested the idea? That would be me, although I didn't think my wingmen would be going with me."

"Why not?" Brett queried.

"I didn't want to put them in that sort of danger. I knew it was dangerous flying through the tunnel, don't get me wrong, but it didn't scare me."

"She now knows she will never be doing anything of that sort again without us behind her and protecting her," Snow said sincerely.

"You're stuck with us, love," I said with a cheeky smirk.

"Not complaining about it," she responded happily.

"Razgriz, when you were escaping Sand Island, you were still called Wardog although the Yuktobanians were already starting to call you the Demons of Razgriz. How did you feel about that?" Brett asked.

"I loved it. It gave me something to lord over High Command because at the time, they hated us. They'd already accused us of attacking civilians when we didn't simply because we were supposed to be in the sector that was attacked. To know the enemies were more frightened of us than possibly everyone else, well it was sort of gratifying, because it put High Command in a sticky situation. If they sacked us, the ground forces would be infuriated; but if they kept us, they'd have to deal with us. The forces on the ground were more willing to listen to us than High Command too, which I don't think High Command appreciated," I said with a grin.

"They despised us," Grimm laughed.

"What do you think would've happened to you four if you hadn't escaped Sand Island?"

"I'd be dead most likely. Hamilton and Bailey wanted me out of the picture," Blaze replied. I felt my blood boil with rage at the mere thought of those two bastards trying to kill her. If I had been there, both would be dead already.

"Bailey tried to stab you with a letter opener," Cassie added.

"And she had a gun like, right next to her," Nagase said. "Thank god she wasn't all that bright."

"She really was dense, wasn't she?" Blaze chuckled.

"Cassie, Grimm, Pops, and I would be imprisoned most likely if we hadn't escaped," Nagase mused thoughtfully.

"They wanted Blaze out of the picture because I think Hamilton knew you were on to the Grey Men being behind it all, and let's face it, you single-handedly turned the tide of the war," Snow spoke up.

"That is not true," Blaze objected.

"Liar," Bartlett accused lightly but firmly.

"I don't remember the enemies freaking out about _us_ chasing them. I remember them freaking out that _you_ were chasing them," Nagase pointed out.

"And who destroyed _all_ of Ofnir and Grabacr in our last sortie?" Grimm added.

"… I still don't see your logic in how _I_ single-handedly changed the tide of the war," Blaze said. "We all played a part. I'm not the one who helped us escape from Sand Island which was kind of a big deal y'all. That was Pops."

"Speaking of you Pops, how do you feel knowing that you were the one person who got to see the progression of the Razgriz from start to end? That you were the one to see them go on their first sortie all the way to their last one?" Brett asked.

"It's hard to explain. They're like my children, each one of them in their own way, and so I guess the best way I can compare this to is it's like watching your children grow up. I never had any children of my own so I sort of adopted them, and they let me, and I got to watch them grow up, technically speaking."

"And Bartlett, you trained four of these pilots. Did they show any indication or did you have any notion that your trainees-"

Bartlett interrupted him. "Nuggets. They're called nuggets."

"Nuggets that now have the same status as you… actually higher," I pointed out.

"You're were still my trainees. You will always be nuggets to me," Bartlett wrangled.

"You're impossible," I muttered.

"You're incorrigible."

"Sounds like Pixy and Cipher," Blaze observed.

"We're pros at it though," Cipher jumped in.

"If you even think about starting-"

"Don't worry, we won't. Not yet at least," Pixy assured.

"Oh god… Okay, now let poor Brett talk. We keep interrupting him," Blaze insisted.

"Don't worry about it, Miss Blaze," Brett assured, his eyes sparkling with amusement. "I'm thoroughly enjoying this."

"Well back to your question, no I didn't. Don't get me wrong. I knew they were special; you don't see that type of teamwork the first time on sortie, but thinking they would end up one of the most well-known names in the military? No. I don't think you ever really know that," Bartlett responded.

"And Bartlett, how did it feel seeing your own _nuggets_ when you were in enemy territory after rescuing Prime Minister Nikanor?"

"Felt great. It was good to see them even though I knew something was different about them."

"And one more question for you before I ask a few questions for Cipher and Pixy: Bartlett and Pops, how does it feel to know that these high caliber pilots used to be your nuggets?"

"It's nice to say we were the ones that trained them. When people say they know the Razgriz, we get to tell them, 'We trained the Razgriz.' Yeah, I have no trouble gloating saying I had these awesome kids as my nuggets," Bartlett said cockily.

"I don't blame you. I would too! Now, we're going to take a short break and we'll be back in a minute," Brett announced to the camera. We waited a few seconds before we were given the okay. We all got up and stretched. Blaze walked over to the laptop and checked her email. All of our inboxes were blasted with fan mail by people who had somehow gotten our email addresses. We were still trying to figure out how they did so. Fans are some crazy people…

"Oh my god… I've ruined Melissa," Blaze laughed.

"Why? Tell me you did not-" Nagase began.

"Oh, I did." She smirked evilly. "What does the fox say?!"

"Those people, I swear to god, are on crack," Nagase mumbled as she shook her head.

Let me explain. Blaze had been surfing the internet late one night a few days ago because she'd been having cramps and couldn't sleep and came upon this video by some Emmerian singers. I had been asleep and had woken up to the bed shaking due to her laughing so hard. I think we watched that video about ten times before we deemed it was actually a real song and not some sort of joke.

"That is a really addictive song," Cassie noted. I started grinning and she shot me a warning glance. "If you even _think_ about singing it, I will kill you."

"Dog goes woof! Cat goes meow!" Grimm sang loudly.

"Grimm!" She chastised.

"You didn't say I couldn't sing it," he countered cheerfully before continuing the song. "Bird goes tweet and mouse goes squeak!"

"Cow goes moo, frog goes croak, and the elephant goes toot!" Genette yodeled.

"Ducks say quack, and fish go blub! And the seal goes ow ow ow! But there's one sound, that no one knows…" Snow chimed in.

"WHAT DOES THE FOX SAY!" I shouted. "RING-DING-DING-DING-DINERINGDING!"

"GERING-DING-DING-DING-DINGERINGEDING! WHAT DOES THE FOX SAY!" Genette hollered. At that moment, the four of us started dancing (like idiots) to the song. Cassie was burying her face in her hands, Nagase was grinning, and Blaze was biting her lip, telling me she was holding back a grin or a laugh. When we finished the first verse, the girls started clapping.

"That was very good! I think the people of Osea, Belka, Yuktobania, and any other countries watching have been thoroughly entertained by that," Nagase commented.

The boys and I froze. "They were filming us?" Grimm nearly squeaked. Blaze, standing near a camera, waved at us. The camera man was silently snickering.

"Well folks, you just got a real insight on how grown up we really are, meaning we haven't really grown up at all," I joked, giving a wink to the camera. "Hope you enjoyed our little dance there!"

"Uh, maybe we should get back to our chairs…" Grimm suggested. He was blushing furiously. I, meanwhile, felt no regrets. If people wanted a true look on the Razgriz, then that's what they were going to get. We went back to our chairs and sat down.

* * *

**Grimm**

I tried to control my flaming cheeks. I just had millions of people watch me dance like a fool to the most ridiculous yet catchy song.

The cameras got back in position as Brett began the interview again. He was still trying not to laugh at our antics, I could tell.

"Cipher, I have to know, how did you stay hidden from reporters and government militaries for over fifteen years?" Brett inquired.

"Very carefully. The Osean government protected me from a lot. I stayed in the southern part of the country to be as far away from Belka as possible. Too many memories there I didn't really want to relive. Plus I was closer to my family that way, and I'd managed to keep information about my family a secret throughout the war for the most part. Pixy was the only one who knew, but he kept quiet about it."

"You two were best friends, and then became enemies, and now you're obviously friends again, or buddies I should say. Pixy, why did you not sell out Cipher to Belka?"

"He was still my buddy, even if we fought on different sides of the same coin. I didn't want to kill him because I'll admit, I hoped that if the war ended and we were both alive, we could be buddies again. It happened, just not as soon as I would've liked."

"When you fought in the last battle between you two, what was going through each of your head's?"

"I just didn't want to kill him. Pixy had been one of my closest friends on base until he turned, and now he's my buddy again. It's hard to wrap your head around killing someone who had been so… important to you, I guess is the right terminology."

"You and your vocabulary," Pixy chuckled.

"You and your sarcasm," Cipher bantered.

"You and your not witty comebacks."

"You and your belief that you think you're witty."

"Not again…" Blaze and Genette groaned, both putting their heads in their hand. Something told me this was not the first time the siblings had heard this type of argument before.

"You two are worse than us about arguing," Blaze remarked.

"We didn't have random conversations about Star Wars," Cipher countered drolly.

"That comment actually brings up one of the questions I have here for Blaze: a majority of your conversations and communications during combat consisted of very random, non-battle relevant chatter. How did you lead your team so effectively this way?" Brett inquired.

Blaze answered without missing a beat, although her expression told me she was nervous. "In battle, the reality that you may be shot down and that you may not come home alive is very real to us. We really never knew if one of us wouldn't return home after a mission. One of us almost didn't return home." At this, Chopper's face fell a little bit. He didn't really like remembering that time of his life. He would never admit this, but I knew my best friend. He felt like he'd let us down, even though he'd save thousands of lives by doing what he did. "The chatter took our mind off the idea, and actually helped us focus more on the task we were given. You can't focus on the possibility of dying because then you'll make mistakes. It's a weird concept to grasp, but I knew how my squadron should operate. Our chatter was our sanctuary I guess you could call it."

"Chopper was the master at it. He would randomly start a conversation if he felt we were getting too quiet," I laughed. "We owe him so much."

At my remark, Chopper smiled. He needed to know that even though he'd missed out on half the war, he still played a huge part in it during and after it.

"Or if he just couldn't stop talking. There's a reason I called him Motormouth," Bartlett added.

"That name will always be uncalled for," Chopper claimed. Bartlett ruffled his ex-nugget's hair affectionately. Bartlett may be rough, but we were like kids to him. He had his strange ways of showing us affection. Ruffling our hair and giving us weird, possibly insulting nicknames, were two of those ways.

"You did talk a lot," Blaze agreed.

Chopper looked at her incredulously. "Says the person who egged me on."

"How did I egg you on?" Blaze demanded, looking genuinely shocked.

"You laughed. You know I'm a sucker for your laugh."

"You're a sucker for her in general," Cipher pointed out with a grin. "Even before you two even dated. Remember when you came over to my house to visit Genette and Blaze?"

"How was I a sucker for her back then?" Chopper attempted to appear curious, but one could easily tell he knew exactly what his uncle-in-law was talking about.

"Remember when she asked Genette for money and he said no?"

"Which was a jerk move…" Blaze breathed quietly.

"I'm your older brother, Blaze. It's my job to be a jerk to you sometimes," Genette said with a cheeky smirk, obviously having heard her comment.

"Yeah…" Chopper said, ignoring the quarreling siblings.

"And then you gave her money?" Cipher replied.

"What's so bad about that? She needed it," he defended.

"She needed ten dollars. You gave her fifty."

"So what if her car needed gas or something?!"

"The car was full."

"What if she had to bribe someone?"

"Who would she have to bribe?"

"Uh… a kidnapper or something maybe…" Chopper's arguments were failing miserably. All but Blaze was unable to hold back there laughter. She kept her composure for her husband's sake.

"First off, I don't think forty dollars would convince a kidnapper to let her go, and second, I don't think a kidnapper would even be able to get their hands on Blaze. She would've gone ballistic on them."

"They'd be unable to have children," Genette hypothesized.

"… Damn it…" Chopper grumbled. "Fine. I was sucker for her back then."

"You're a sucker for her now too; she has you wrapped around her finger," Nagase said with a hint of amusement in her voice.

"May I remind you that every girl here has her husband wrapped around her finger," Blaze interjected. She kissed Chopper on the cheek. "I'm glad you're wrapped around my finger."

Chopper gave her an innocent, adoring look. "I like when you take my side in things."

"Another thing I should mention about the useless chatter, it sort of goes with what Blaze said, but when we were both Wardog and Razgriz, we had so much responsibility on our shoulders, and we were and still are the youngest squadron in Osean history. To be honest, I think it kind of scared us to know that, and the chatter just distracted us from the thought of it. We didn't mind responsibility, but that much was overwhelming at times. I started to guess around the time the enemy at the time started to call us demons when we were still Wardog that we would be deciders of the outcome of the war. I just never imagined it would be that drastic, the outcome I mean," I confessed.

"The responsibility was a lot to handle at times, especially as Razgriz. It was easier as Wardog just because we had a country behind us for the most part, but as Razgriz, we were fighting three superpowers. Thank god we had Pops, Andersen, and the rest of the Kestrel crew along with the Yuktobanian ships who joined us along the way. I don't think we would've been able to handle it by ourselves if they hadn't been there," Nagase admitted.

"During the mission where the Yuktobanian ships joined your fleet, Captain Andersen, you played 'Journey Home,' a famous, strong anti-war song, during the middle of a battle. Some say it was a manner of psychological warfare. Is that true?" Brett queried. I felt myself lean forward. I had been wondering this for years but had never gotten the courage to ask him myself. I saw in my peripheral vision my friends shift too.

"It was a way of showing that we wanted peace as much as they did. It obviously did not work because over half the ships still fired at us, but some very brave souls did join us. I do not believe they joined because they wanted to defend Prime Minister Nikanor, but I will never know whether or not my playing the song influenced their decision. My only thought about that day is how grateful I am to the Yuktobanians who joined our side," Andersen responded kindly.

"And another question, or questions I guess I should say, is how did you know the pilots of the Wardog Squadron were not traitors and how did you know when and where to rescue them? What made you decide to help them?"

"Pops contacted me right after Chopper's alleged death, telling me of his suspicions that someone was working behind the scenes of the war. He hadn't told Wardog yet," Andersen replied.

Pops added, "They had endured a tragedy. I did not want to burden them further with the information until I thought they were ready for it. Unfortunately, I didn't have to tell them. They were already fighting for their lives when I finally told Genette."

"Pops told me about what he found out about Hamilton, about him being part of the Grey Men." Blaze's nostrils flared at the name. It didn't matter that he was dead; she still despised him with every atom in her being. "I had known Pops for a while. The Kestrel docked at Sand Island many years ago for some emergency maintenance. There was a gas leak and we all had to get off the ship immediately. He and I, both being older people on the island, befriended each other. I knew of his background, and I knew he was trustworthy. He wouldn't have called me had he not thought that not only his life, but his trainee's lives were in danger as well. The Kestrel had been sitting idly in the Kirwin Islands, waiting for a mission. Once I got the call, I took a risk and decided to sail to Sand Island. We stocked up and headed over there. We sat just far enough out at sea to avoid their detection. That way, if Pops needed my help, I could send Swordsman up immediately since he was the only remaining fighter on the ship. I called Pops and let him know what I was up to. We formulated the plan together. We arrived two days before the showdown. When the whole event went down, we lied to Sand Island saying we happened to be in the area and that we had a fighter. They believed us. Snow sent the Wardog Squadron a message in Morse code by the use of his light beacon on his plane. It all went down from there. Once they ejected from their planes, he shot down their planes immediately to make it look like he actually shot them down. Sea Goblin proceeded to lie to Sand Island saying there were no survivors and then picked up the floating pilots."

I felt my mouth hanging slightly ajar. I closed it discreetly. Pops had never told us that he suspected someone behind the scenes…

"Pops, when you discovered the 8492nd squadron was chasing you in your flight from Sand Island, what passed through your mind? Especially considering you were unarmed."

"I was surprised they had sunk to the level of chasing down unarmed planes, but I figured Blaze, Grimm, Nagase, and Chopper had messed up their plans so badly they felt if they didn't destroy them, the group would have a second chance of ending the war they tried so hard to create. I knew that, being unarmed, we'd have to win by wits rather than ammo. It was difficult, but I knew the area, and I refused to allow myself to fail my pupils after they had come so far."

"Do any of you think the Grey Men will return?" Brett asked.

Surprisingly, Blaze answered. "Ofnir and Grabacr were not the only people apart of the Grey Men, I believe they were just the strongest supporters of it. The group has probably become very disorganized, but the group was formed on hate. As long as hate exists, the Grey Men will exist. So yes, one day, I think the Grey Men will return. Hopefully a new generation will be there to stop them."

"Ofnir and Grabacr created a lot of mud-throwing about all of you. They caused not only Yuktobania to hate you, but Osea and Belka as well. After everything that has happened now, do you think the Osean public will be able to accept your role in the war as people other than traitors?"

"I would hope their actions speak for them. They fled for their lives and fought to gain back peace. We were the scapegoats of the war for Belka. When we started winning and foiling their plans, the Grey Men got angry, changed up their plans, and made us look like the bad guys. Maybe people think that because the Razgriz fired against the country they used to fight for, people will see them as traitors, but they didn't want to fire at them. The Razgriz wanted to convince them Belka was deceiving everyone, but most of the ships didn't listen. Most people in general didn't listen, so when the Razgriz were fired at, they fought back in defense," Chopper explained.

Something about the way Chopper had stated everything seemed… off. I couldn't place my finger on it though. Brett, however, seemed to. "It's known that you were shot down over November Stadium during an ambush. I'm not meaning to sound impertinent and please correct me if I'm wrong, but in your explanation just now, it's almost like you talked about the Razgriz as if you were separate from them."

"I don't know how I feel about being in the Razgriz. I'm honored, don't get me wrong, but everything they did as an actual squadron, I wasn't there when they did. I don't really belong in the squadron because I didn't endure all those incredible feats they did. I didn't help defeat Ofnir and Grabacr, I didn't help destroy the SOLG's control panel or the SOLG itself. It's hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that I'm apart of probably one of the most well-known squadrons in the world."

We all seemed lost for words at that. I had never really imagined Chopper being that conflicted over such a simple thing. "You were there when the name Razgriz started to stick to us. In my opinion, we were the Razgriz before we were officially named it. You're just as much a part of the Razgriz as any of the rest of us. Besides, you endured something much worse than we did," I claimed. I'm not sure where my sudden rant came from, but Blaze sent me an appreciative smile. Something told me she'd been thinking the same, she just couldn't find the words.

"What happened?" Brett prodded. I forgot that only our group knew about what happened with Rald, but Chopper took the question in stride. He explained everything he'd told us, from waking up in the hospital to being transported to Anfang to meeting "Elizabeth" to remembering who he was. He even went into some details of being tortured although knowing kids would be watching, he tried make it as least graphic as possible, difficult considering the type of torture he underwent. Blaze had taken a hold of his hand sometime during the story.

"That's absolutely incredible. I don't… I honestly can't see how you survived that," Brett said in absolute shock. "I… your supposed death is what many claim as the stimulus that really united the Razgriz. Is that true?"

"We were already united, but his death gave us something worth fighting for. I knew after his death and the weird transmissions we'd been getting that entire mission that someone was messing with us. Up until then, we didn't know what we were really fighting for, we just fought because we were ordered to. His death gave us something worth fighting for, and boy did we fight," Blaze answered. A slight undertone in her voice reminded me of that day, the way she sounded when she laughed at a frightened Yuktobanian pilot. No one except for the people who witnessed it will ever be able to comprehend just how changed and affected Blaze had been by Chopper's 'death.'

"We're going to take a quick break again but we'll be right back. Stay tuned ladies and gentlemen," Brett notified. We waited for okay signal before getting up. Nagase and Cassie rushed to the bathroom. Major went straight for the food. Blaze looked pale. She and Chopper were getting drinks, and they were still holding hands.

Cassie came over and wrapped her arms around me from behind, resting her head on my shoulder. "You're doing great in this interview. What you said about Chopper after he said he didn't know how he felt about being in the Razgriz was wonderful."

"Thanks," I said bashfully. "It sort of came out. I hope I didn't sound too sappy."

"Not at all. It was very sweet and very true. And that's two of your amazing characteristics. I love you for it." She kissed me on the cheek. "Let's sit down. My feet hurt."

We walked over to our seats and sat down again. Our group soon followed. We went back on air in five minutes. I felt bad for the viewers having to wait five minutes for the show to come back on. I never have liked commercials; always have thought they lasted too long.

"And we're back. Now I'm going to actually start with someone who I think people are very interested to know about because of how he came to be associated with the Razgriz. Jens Geller, you were fighting for Belka when you were taken as a POW by the Razgriz. In fact, story goes you actually _jumped_ from the top of Stier Castle onto the Sea Goblin helicopter. First of all, what was going through your head when you were jumping, and second, what was going through your head when you were hanging from the helicopter?" Brett questioned.

"To your first question, I was actually thinking I could take down all the people on the helicopter. But then I ended up dangling on the side of it and my thoughts quickly changed to 'oh my god, what the hell am I doing? What the hell was I thinking?' You know, typical questions that would probably run through anyone's head who did what I did," Geller said casually. I heard Blaze let out a breathy chuckle. Even I held back a laugh. Geller didn't usually make jokes. If he did, they were dry, and you had to really know him to know he was making a joke.

"Had you heard of the Razgriz when you were in the Belkan military? And if so, what did you think of them?"

"Oh I had definitely heard of them; I knew pilots that met them in battle. They told me horror stories of the battle prowess the entire squadron showed, particularly after Chopper presumably died. I thought they were as good as the stories I heard about them, but I thought they were dead when I was assigned the duty of guarding President Harling. I had heard about what happened at Sand Island and thought our troubles with them were through. When I saw their black planes flying across the sky, I knew our effort was hopeless but I thought I could possibly get the President back. How I would do that dangling from a helicopter, I do not know. I just thought I could somehow get him back for my country. That rather backfired."

"Why did you decide to help the Razgriz in their mission to defeat the Grey Men?"

"Miss Blaze-"

"Geller, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Blaze?" Blaze said with an amused expression.

"Habit. Sorry."

"You're fine. You know I'm just teasing you. But really, there's no need for 'Miss' in there. It makes me feel old."

"You are far from old. Anyways, Blaze actually convinced me in a very peculiar way. The first interrogation I did, she chewed me out in Belkan. I do not remember much about what she said, except that she wanted the war to end quickly. Afterwards, I believe the next day, she came to my room and simply started rambling about nonsense. She did this multiple times and would not stop talking until I said something. In time, I came to enjoy her visits. She was quite entertaining in her monologues. She brought me coffee too."

"You were very grouchy my first few visits," Blaze remarked.

"You were my enemy the first few visits. But you turned out to be one of my greatest friends in the end."

Blaze grinned. "I'm proud to have you as friend. This man right here is a super genius when it comes to cracking codes."

"I thought I was good. He's not normal at it," Genette chimed in.

"Genette is very good at cracking codes as well though. I could not have cracked the code for the Grey Men's disc without his help," Geller insisted.

"Blaze's modesty is rubbing off on you, watch out," Bartlett joked.

"That is not a bad thing," Geller protested. Bartlett just stared at him dubiously.

I felt bad for Brett. It was really hard to keep us on topic. I had to give kudos to this guy for being able to keep up with us.

"Grimm, you joined the Wardog Squadron in the middle of an air battle by taking Captain Bartlett's spare plane," Brett began.

"You did what, boy?" Bartlett demanded.

I prevented myself from quivering in my boots. Thankfully, Major said, "Sweetie, in case you don't remember, you were busy escaping from the Yuktobanians. The plane is safe anyways. I don't think you need to care about it. Now shush and let Brett finish."

"Yes, dear," Bartlett said begrudgingly. He then winked at me to let me know he'd been joking. Damn man had me nearly about to pee myself.

Brett chuckled. "What were you thinking during that time?"

"I was thinking pretty much 'hell, I can't believe I'm doing this. I'm already pulling out. If I stop now, I'll be branded a coward. Can't do that. Let's do this.' That's pretty much the babble going through my head at the time," I confessed.

"How did you feel once you were in the air and flying with the squadron?"

"Much better, but only thanks to Blaze and Nagase. Chopper tortured me," I admitted drolly.

"I wasn't _that_ bad!" he objected.

"You said, and I _quote_, 'Hey Kid, Grimm's coming up. I'm not sure he can handle this… Are we just gonna watch?' Yep, I remember."

Chopper stared at me. "How the hell do you even remember that? I can hardly remember what I ate for breakfast this morning," he said.

"Probably because you ate so much," Nagase teased.

"I'm a big guy and we had a big day ahead of us. I need sustenance."

"I have very good memory," I interjected, getting us back on track with the conversation.

"Nooo, really? I couldn't tell," Chopper replied. There was one of his good yet bad comebacks. If he couldn't think of a witty one, he resorted to that one. "I was training you."

"For what?"

"If you were going to be in our squadron, you would have to deal with my comments. I decided to introduce you early, see if you could handle. You obviously did seeing as how you're still here," he chirped.

"Lucky for you. How many times did I save you butt?"

"Blaze saved it more."

"Would you two stop bickering?" Blaze snapped lightly.

"Just like the good old times," I commented with a reminiscent smile.

"She told us that so many times." Chopper turned to Brett. "Grimm and I picked on each other a lot. We still do in case you haven't noticed."

"Oh believe me, I have," the reporter laughed.

"Okay, what's your next question?" I asked.

"Do you think you matured as the war progressed?"

"I did and I didn't. It's hard to say. Sometimes I would act really old and wise, although those moments were rare, and then sometimes I would act really young and stupid, which happened more often. I think any ordeal like the one we went through would mature anyone in some way, shape, or form. I had to mature to make some of the decisions I did during the war, but I had my friends by my side so I was fine."

"And by your side now is your wife, Cassie. Cassie, you spent most of your time on the ground; you didn't go on many sorties until the end. What passed through your mind during the course of the war? Such as when they went on sorties and when they were branded as traitors?"

"I was always worried; it's natural to be worried about your friends during a war time. But I had faith in their flying abilities. I never really worried too much about Blaze being shot down because I'd seen the way she flew, and there would be no enemies fast enough to catch her. Chopper was just Chopper. I worried more about him getting grounded by our superiors more than getting shot down by an enemy plane. I'll never figure out how he never got in trouble. Nagase was a great flyer, and she had a lot of tricks up her sleeve. I guess I worried about Grimm mostly because he was my boyfriend. As for what went through my mind when they were branded as traitors, I wanted to hit Hamilton and Bailey in the face with a baseball bat. Instead I had the opportunity to shoot at Hamilton and kick him. Blaze handled Bailey. I would've liked to have a go at her too, but oh well. I'm very protective of my friends, and I knew there was no way any of them could be traitors. I found the whole idea ridiculous."

"I have two questions for Captain Snow here. First off, what went through your mind when Andersen ordered you to shoot down Wardog?" Brett inquired.

"I thought he'd lost all sanity. I had heard what was going on with Wardog, but I didn't believe any of it. Then Andersen explained the plot to me, and I was happy to go along with it," Snow replied. "I'm glad I got to help them out. They gave me a squadron again."

"Were you worried about joining the squadron after knowing about all their accomplishments and whether or not they would fully accept you?"

"Yes, mainly because I joined so soon after Chopper had 'died.' If I had joined in a different time, then I would've felt much better about joining, but Blaze, Nagase, and Grimm made the transition easy for me. They accepted me immediately, which in all honesty surprised me. I know how difficult it is to integrate a new member into a squadron, let alone one with the chemistry this group showed. I didn't want to mess up the flow of it all. And yes, their accomplishments intimidated me, so I challenged myself to be just as good as them so I could prove to myself that I did belong with them."

"Of course you belonged with us Snow. You believed in us when no one else did. Anyone who did that belonged with us," Blaze claimed kindly.

"Thank you Blaze," Snow said with a sincere smile.

"Pops, I have another question for you. You served in the Belkan Air Force where discipline and concentration was pounded into your head as two of some of the most important rules of the Belkan military. What did you think of the Wardog Squadron in the early stages of the war through the eyes of an ex-Belkan pilot?" Brett stated.

"They were disciplined and concentrative, but in a different way. In Belka, you don't speak unless spoken to and unless you're giving or being given directions. With them, they just said whatever came to mind. And their discipline, although more relaxed, was still there. Their style was different, but it worked, and that's all that mattered. I came to enjoy their conversations, especially when they bugged the top brass with their useless chatter," Pops admitted with a smirk.

"This is actually for Blaze now, but it has to do with Pops. Was he considered a father figure to you during the war? You two share common heritage with you being half-Belkan and him being full Belkan. Was there any father-daughter like relationship?"

"Pops was like a father to all of us. He helped us through a lot. We owe him so much. My heritage doesn't have anything to do with my relationship with him, it's just a coincidence, but my heritage probably helps him understand my motives more than other people."

"Now, I have to ask because it's you. Have you ever considered the fact that you defeated the best that Belka and Yuktobania had to offer? Does that scare you?"

Blaze pondered the question for a moment. "No, honestly, I try not to think too much of the war. It's not that great of a memory. During the war, no, it didn't scare me that I was able to defeat the best they had to offer. But now? It does. I can't comprehend how someone could pull that off. Everyone's luck runs out at some point. Mine just happened to keep going."

"So how does it feel to you to be called the Ace of Aces?"

"I can't really wrap my head around the name. I get it that I'm good, but to be called an Ace? It's taken me over a year to accept that title. To be called the Ace of Aces, that's just impossible. I honestly cannot see myself as being _that_ good. There are so many fighter pilots out in the world. Surely I'm not the Ace of all the Aces out there."

Bartlett groaned, "You're modesty is going to kill me."

"Those of you who call her captain, how does it feel to have a captain of such caliber?" Brett asked. I started to wonder when we'd be done with all these questions. I really wanted to sleep.

Chopper answered first. "It gives you a lot of confidence. I'm proud to say that I have such an amazing pilot as my captain _and _my wife. You can't really explain the feeling of having her as a captain; you really feel indestructible."

"Being her wingwoman, I know going into battle I'll always have my back watched. How she manages to keep an eye on all of us is beyond me, but her caliber as pilot just increases my trust of her more, and I trusted her a lot before. It's really nice to have that in a captain," Nagase added.

"A captain of her caliber has more than just skill and speed. They also have adaptability and awareness of her wingmen. It gives us, her wingmen, high hopes that we'll come out of the battle most likely victorious," I chimed in.

"These people are the best in the world. I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to be with while fighting in the war. They are absolutely incredible," Blaze said. Her eyes were shining. Was she about to cry?

"I can tell you all get along so well. And some of these friendships turned into a lot more for some of you. Relations between members of the military, especially in the same squadron, is strongly disapproved of and sometimes prohibited; how did you manage to get involved with one another and not get grounded for it?" Brett's question stumped me. I had never really thought about getting grounded for my relationship with Cassie before. I don't know why.

"A lot of us, except from Grimm, knew each other beforehand. I already liked Blaze a lot more than a friend when she came on base, but I didn't start dating her until I knew her brother was okay with it. Genette, with him not being an actual member of the military, I don't think the top brass really cared that he dated Nagase. I don't think they expected him to stick around so long or else the story might've been different. With Cassie and Grimm, she stayed on the ground a lot while we were in the air so their relationship was okay. My relationship with Blaze was probably the one being criticized because we were both pilots. We probably got away with it because we didn't let our personal issues, if we had any, affect the way we fought and flew. And second, we were a big part of the reason why Sand Island had become famous so they were cutting us some slack I think," Chopper informed.

"Some people say that all of you are nothing but murderers. What do you have to say about that?"

"We killed Yuktobanians and Belkans to defend Osea just like Yuktobanians killed Oseans and Belkans to defend their country and Belkans killed Oseans and Yuktobanians to defend their country. In that case, then we're all considered murderers. If I could've gone through the entire war just fighting remote controlled drones, I'd be happy. I don't like killing people. In fact, I tried to shoot down planes in ways that the pilot would have a chance to escape. I don't want to be a murderer, I don't consider myself to be a murderer, and I hope most people think I and my squadron are not murderers, but I can't control their opinion. They have the right to believe what they want," Blaze answered.

"During the war, did any of you think about giving up?"

"I thought more about giving up during the war than when I was captured by the Belkans," Chopper remarked. "I wanted to get my memories back. I knew what I was fighting for, even if I didn't know what or who I was fighting for if that makes sense."

"I thought about it, definitely, but then I reminded myself we were the ones who knew the truth about the war and it was up to us to stop it. No one else could take our place in the cycle. I wouldn't want anyone to. I wouldn't want anyone to go through what we did," Blaze said. "If I had to do it all over again, I would, just so no one else would have to."

"And this is the last question before we take our last break, and this is for Pops, Major, Andersen, or just anyone but the seven sitting in front who would like to answer: how would you describe the psychological profiles of each of the Razgriz members now that the war is over?"

"Oh god…" Chopper mumbled. I laughed.

Major spoke up for Blaze. "Blaze is still young and fun and happy, but she still has the knowledge of all that happened in the war, and I believe mentally it has aged her. She still is sane though… at least now she is. She might've had some questionable sanity moments while on the Kestrel."

"Like suggesting we fly through the tunnel in Sudentor?" Blaze chirped.

"Yes, that is when we questioned your sanity," Major told her with a smile.

"Chopper is still the funny, talkative guy he used to be. He was changed after his ordeal with Rald, but he slowly changed back. The only differences in him now from the beginning of the war is that he's a couple years older and he's wiser, which I think can explain all of them. No one could enter their situation and leave without being mentally aged and/or wizened," Bartlett said. "They're still young physically, and mentally, they're slowly acting more and more like they're in their mid-twenties rather than their forties."

"We did not age that much mentally!" Nagase argued.

"Yeah, you did."

"Well someone had to age mentally since you didn't," Chopper bantered.

"I've already aged mentally as much as I possibly can," Bartlett retorted. Chopper only rolled his eyes.

"Alright, we're going to take another break and then we're going to come back for the last part of the segment where we answer questions by our viewers on Facebook and Twitter. We'll see you in a minute."

Thirty seconds later, I was standing up and stretching again. My butt hurt from sitting in the chair for so long; in fact it was numb. Cassie, Nagase, and Major all remained sitting. Their feet hurt if they stood too long (something to do with the added weight from the babies). Blaze sat with them, her arms wrapped tight around her stomach. I wondered what was wrong.

"Cramps," Chopper said quietly; I hadn't even realized he was standing next to me.

"That's why she's practically hunched over?"

"Yeah. How's Cassie and the baby?"

"Good. The doctor says the baby looks really healthy. I'm so excited!"

"Know if it's a boy or a girl yet?"

"No. I think it's going to be a girl though, just a feeling. Cassie is troubled though. She's already trying to decide who's going to be the godmother and godfather."

"I'll convince her to let me be the godfather," Chopper said mischievously.

"How?" I regretted the words as soon as they came out of my mouth.

"I'll give her an offer she can't refuse," he said.

"Oh my god Chopper…"

"You know you find it funny."

"I'm not going to reply to that."

"Chopper? Can you toss me some chocolate?" Blaze called out. He grabbed a handful of Hershey Kisses and tossed them one by one to her. "Thank you!"

When I gave him a questioning look, he said, "She swears up and down that chocolate helps with cramps. I don't ask, I know better."

"Agreed."

We had another five minute break. By that time, I had regained feeling in my butt again and sat back down in my chair. Once everyone was ready, Brett started the questions again; he had an IPad in his hand to access Twitter and Facebook.

"So DubbleBubble543 asks Nagase, Cassie, and Major how far along are they?" Brett informed, looking up at the girls.

"I'm three months pregnant, Cassie is four, and Nastasya is five," Nagase informed; her face glowed at the thought of her future child, so did Genette's. I even found myself grinning at the thought I was going to be a father.

" RazgrizRox_ asks Blaze and Chopper if they're going to have kids any time soon." We all stared at the couple. Both were blushing. For a guy that hardly got embarrassed by anything, he sure got all flustered and shy when you asked about him starting a family.

"Not anytime soon that we know of. I have my hands full with my husband," Blaze joked.

"I am like a child sometimes. I will admit that," Chopper agreed humorously.

"All right, DOTS asks, 'Cipher, will you marry me?'" We all started laughing as Blaze's uncle flushed.

"Sorry ladies, I'm not on the market."

"So you're taken?" Brett asked.

"No, just not wanting to date at the moment."

"Let's go on Facebook and see what people are asking on there. Okay, Esmeralda Larson wants to know what your favorite planes are."

"Mine would probably be the F-14 series or the F-22. They're big and powerful and fun," Blaze said.

"I like the SU planes. Things are just awesome," Chopper said.

"I like any plane that will win me a battle," Bartlett declared.

"Sensible, but I like the fast planes. If you're out of ammo and can't fight, outrun them, stock back up, and meet them back in the air," Nagase stated.

"The F-15C. I always have. It's never failed me in a mission I went on," Cipher remarked.

"I like the tiny planes. They're agile and fast," I said.

"I loved the Morgan, although I only flew it once. That thing had so much power," Pixy reminisced.

"Yeah I remember," Cipher muttered.

"Hey, remember who shot who down."

"Remember who caused the reason why we even had to fight against each other."

"Remember that I could've killed you."

"Remember that I almost did."

"Here we go again," Genette groaned. Cipher and Pixy continued to bicker back and forth for another minute before Genette and Blaze, both exasperated, told them to shut up. Brett was cracking up. I kept reminding myself this guy was an expert on the two pilots, more so than the Razgriz. This guy had done a documentary on Cipher and had known Pixy. I figured he enjoyed getting a firsthand experience of their famous bickering.

Brett somehow managed to ask us more questions. By the time the interview was done, we'd been in the interview for over three hours. I wanted to get home and go to sleep, but we couldn't. Along with the interview, we also had a photo shoot. _Time_ magazine wanted to do an article about us with about fifty photos. Some of the photos they wanted to be from the time during the war, then they wanted some recent photos of us (about thirty). So for the next three hours, we were ordered on how we were to pose. Some were group shots, some were couple shots, others were single shots. They seemed to gravitate towards the girls, particularly Blaze and Cassie. I think because those two were the most outgoing in it. Nagase and Major weren't feeling well. The photographers, out of all the guys, liked Chopper and Bartlett the most, mainly because those two kept randomly slapping each other upside the head. Bartlett was like a father to Chopper. He'd known Chopper longer than any of us.

Finally, we were allowed to go home. Before heading home, the girls pulled out sweatpants and sweatshirts from their purses (how did they fit an entire outfit in their purses? They had so much other stuff in there) and changed into them. Then we walked to our cars. Blaze caught a ride on Chopper's back the entire way there.

"We'll see you guys tomorrow. We have that publisher who wants to talk to us about writing a book," Blaze said.

"Lovely. Another six or more hours of time I could be using to sleep. This is ridiculous!" Nagase grouched.

"Honey, let's get you home. You need rest," Genette insisted kindly, opening the door. She waved bye to us and got in. The rest of us got in our cars too. As I started my brand new BMW, Cassie said, "I don't believe it."

"Believe what?" I inquired, looking over at her.

"That Blaze and Chopper won't be having a family soon. There's just no way."

"Maybe Blaze or Chopper isn't ready yet."

"It's Blaze. Chopper's already told me he wants a family with her. I don't know why she doesn't want to though."

"Maybe she's scared?" I suggested.

"I'm scared too but that's obviously not stopping me," she said with a smirk and glancing down at her stomach.

I laughed. "They'll start a family when they're both ready. In the meantime, let's go home and take a nap. How about I give you massage as well?"

"And that is why I love you."

"You love me for a lot of reasons."

"If I started listing everything, we'd be here until the baby was born, possibly longer."

"I'd rather you not have the baby in the car."

"Then don't prod me and let's get home." She kissed me on the cheek and that's what we did. We went home.

* * *

**Who knew an interview could be so long? Hope you guys enjoyed! To all the people who sent in questions, I could not have done this without you! Thank you so, so, so much! Please review :)**


	4. Discovery

**I can't resist writing the new chapter :) Hope you enjoy!**

**Chapter Quote:  
**"**I would rather trust a woman's instinct than a man's reason."  
****~Stanley Baldwin**

* * *

Chapter 4: Discovery

**April 19, 2014…**

**Blaze**

I cleaned the stove while I listened to Nagase and Cassie talk about their babies. It had been found out that Nagase's baby was a girl along with Cassie's. Major's was a boy. I wondered, when I had a family (because I did plan on having one), whether it would be a boy or a girl.

"Blaze? Do you have any chocolate?" Cassie queried.

"Yeah, there's some Nutella in the pantry. Why?" I replied.

"I want some. Really badly," she said, getting up and walking slowly over to get the stuff. She wore a loose tunic shirt and leggings. Both she and Nagase had gotten really lazy in dressing ever since their stomachs had really started to show how pregnant they were. Both had mild morning sickness but for the most part, could keep food down. I watched Cassie grab a spoon out of our utensils drawer, sit back down at the bar, open up the jar, and simply spoon a gob of the chocolately goodness into her mouth straight from the jar. And she kept going.

"I was looking forward to having some on my sandwich later," I commented. Cassie offered me some, but I shook my head.

"Germaphobe," she joked.

"Actually I don't want to take it away from the craving pregnant woman," I bantered.

"Very funny." She made a face at me but continued eating.

"Where's Chopper?" Nagase asked. "If he's home, he's strangely quiet."

"He's over at Geller's picking up his jacket. He left it there when we went over his house a few days ago. Speaking of quiet… Michael! Castiel! Gabriel!" I hollered. I heard scrambling claws on the hardwood floors a few seconds later. Soon, my three Siberian husky puppies appeared in the kitchen, tripping over each other to get to me. Michael was a mixture of dark and light gray, Castiel (or Cas as we affectionately called him) was black and white with bright blue eyes. Gabriel, the mischievous one of the bunch, was a light tan with green eyes. They stood up on my legs, begging for me to pick them up.

"Let's give y'all some food," I said, walking over to their food bowls. They slid after me; they had just gotten the hang of running. I grabbed their food container and poured their puppy formula into the bowls. As I stood up, my world spun. I stumbled back, barely grabbing onto the counter to stop myself from falling.

"Blaze!" Nagase exclaimed. I heard her chair screech on the floor as she got up and ran to me. Cassie was close behind her. "What happened?"

"Sorry, I'm fine. I just… got really dizzy." My world slowly stopped spinning. Within a minute, I could stand up straight. "I think my sinuses are bad. It's been happening a lot lately."

"You're okay though?" Nagase prodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Go sit back down. Don't worry about me. It stresses you, and you don't need to be stressed," I insisted. She looked at me dubiously but went back to her chair. I started wiping down the counters with Clorox wipes; Cassie continued the conversation. I wasn't really listening though. I was trying to figure out what kept causing my dizzy spells. I'd been having them a lot recently. I didn't know what was wrong with me. Chopper knew I wasn't telling him something, but I seriously figured it was bad sinuses. I've had sinuses this badly before. However, if it turned out to be something worse, I'd certainly tell him. I didn't see the point in keeping anything from him. Whatever I had wasn't serious (at least I didn't think so). It wasn't like I was having nightmares about anyone dying (I've had enough of those thank you). Besides, Chopper had been swamped with his part in the book being written about us. He'd been talking to the writer every day at the writer's office, meaning I was left alone at home most of the time. Therefore, my friends came to visit me.

"Blaze!" Nagase shouted.

"What?" I inquired innocently. I didn't get why she looked so angry at me. What pregnancy hormone was making her mad now?

"Seriously, what's wrong? You've been acting weird lately," she stated.

"Nothing's wrong, Nagase, I promise."

"Bull," she snapped. "What's wrong?"

I looked at with shock evident on my face. She had never really been cross with me. "Nothing."

"Blaze, are you… pregnant?" Cassie asked.

"No," I said politely.

"You're not telling me you and Chopper have never-"

"Cassie. Do you see how good looking my husband is? Of course we have."

"So maybe you're pregnant!"

"I could tell that Grabacr and Ofnir were going to attack us in our last sortie. I think I'd know if I was pregnant. Now, I'd really like to stop talking about this. It's… awkward. Why do you look like you don't believe me Nagase?"

"Because you're hiding something, and when you hide things, it's usually because it's something bad. Need I remind you of what happened three years ago?" she retorted. I dropped the towel I'd been holding on the floor, trying to wrap my head around what she just said. At that moment, Chopper walked through the door.

"Blaze?" He sounded cheerful. I felt bad that he was about to walk in on this argument. When he did walk in, he stopped short, obviously picking up on the bad vibes the three of us were sending out. "What did I just walk in on?"

"Blaze is hiding something from us," Nagase said.

"Nagase, leave it. I think she's telling us the truth," Cassie urged.

"What are you hiding Blaze?" Chopper asked, his brow scrunching up in worry.

"First off, I'm hiding nothing. Second, Cassie, you _think_ I'm telling the truth? What reason would I have to lie to you? And thirdly, watch what you say Nagase. That was three years ago. I've changed," I warned. I attempted to keep the venom out of my voice, although I'm not sure that worked out so well.

"First off, there's something wrong with you and you know it and you're not telling us. Second, don't snap at Cassie. She's just as worried about you as I am, she just doesn't want to argue with anyone. Third, have you Blaze?"

"I learned my lesson about hiding things from you."

"You sure about that? I don't care if you don't tell me, but not telling your husband?"

"Nagase!" Chopper exclaimed in horror.

I whirled on my husband. "You don't trust me when I say I don't know what's wrong?"

"I… I've been worried about you. I've been trying to find a way to ask you without angering you but uh… that's not working out," he admitted, looking extremely guilty. Had I not been so angry, I would've felt bad. My hands trembled. I kept my temper in check (somewhat) as I said, "What happened three years ago is in the past. I thought by now you'd have forgiven me for that. I told you what happened three years ago, and I haven't kept anything from you since. Believe me or not when I say I don't know what's wrong-"

"So you admit something's wrong!" Nagase practically shouted.

At that, I lost any control I had on my emotions. "Yes I think something's wrong but I don't know what it is nor do I think it's serious! If I did think it was serious I would've told someone!"

"Blaze, calm down," Chopper said gently.

"Don't tell me to calm down when I'm being accused of keeping secrets and when I've just learned that not only my friends, but my_ husband_ doesn't trust me!"

"That's not what we said. We just… don't trust you on this subject."

"Like that makes it any better," I hissed. I picked up the towel I'd dropped and threw it down on the counter. I stalked out of the kitchen, heading to the mudroom to grab my coat. Chopper, Nagase, and Cassie followed me. Cassie and Chopper looked mortified, Nagase looked furious.

"What are you doing?" Chopper demanded anxiously, grabbing my arm gently. I shrugged him off.

"I'm going out," I told him, shoving my arms roughly into the arm holes of my coat.

"Blaze, stay. Please," he begged.

"No, I'm going out. I'll be back later." With that, I slipped my feet into my fuzzy moccasins and left.

* * *

**Cassie**

Chopper stood staring at the door, looking like a lost puppy dog. Nagase leaned heavily on the doorway, her expression of anger slowly morphing into one of shock, as if she was starting to realize what she'd said. I stood with my mouth open. Blaze had looked ready to cry.

Chopper finally threw open the door, Blaze had just backed out of the garage; the garage door was going down. Chopper slid underneath it and tried to stop Blaze, but she'd already pulled out on the street. He came back in looking defeated.

"She was crying… I could tell," he mumbled, staring dejectedly at the floor.

"Chopper, I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me," Nagase apologized. "I-I don't know…"

"Go home. Both of you. The stress isn't good for the babies," Chopper told us. His voice was gentle, almost as if he wasn't mad at us. I knew better. He was beyond pissed, especially at Nagase, but he cared too about the health of our babies even if they weren't born yet.

"Chopper-" Nagase began.

"I'm fine. I'll see you later. Y'all go home," he insisted. The two of us knew not to argue with him. We said quiet goodbyes before leaving through the front door. As I shut the door, I caught a glance of Chopper taking out his cellphone.

Nagase leaned against the wall of the house, rubbing the front of her temples, muttering "What the hell have I done?" over and over.

"Let's get home. We can't do anything right now," I said.

"I have to apologize to her. I can't believe I just said that."

"Apologize to her when you're both calmed down. For now, leave her be."

* * *

**Blaze**

It's hard driving a car when your eyes refuse to hold back tears. My tears were from frustration rather than anger or hurt. I was frustrated I couldn't get them to trust me. Then I felt weak because I was crying which made me mad at myself. I drove to nowhere in particular, but I drove for a long time. The roads were icy; it scared me. I took the roads slowly. I didn't realize where I was actually driving until I ended up two hours away from my house in front of a quaint, two-story house in the woods, just far enough away from the road that you could barely hear the sounds of passing cars. Helena Geller ran around her playground with a familiar dark blonde chasing her. When she saw my car, she squealed, abandoning her game and running to me instead. I got out of the car, smiling and hiding any traces of what just happened. I swung her up in my arms.

"Goodness Helena, you're getting big!" I exclaimed.

"I know!" she laughed.

"Blaze, how are you?" Henri asked, smiling from ear to ear. I smiled at Helena's godfather. After our interview, Rowena and Helena had come up to Versailles to see us all. Geller and Rowena were talking to us when Rowena smiled at something behind me. I turned around to see Henri zooming around with Helena laughing on his shoulders. When he realized we were staring (and smiling and chuckling), he looked at us embarrassedly before shrugging and continuing to make the little girl laugh. Helena grew attached to him immediately. He went and visited her a lot. Then one day, about a month later, Rowena and Geller asked him if he wanted to be Helena's godfather seeing as how she none. Henri accepted immediately. He sees Helena almost every day.

"I'm good. How are you?" I responded, careful to keep all the turmoil of today off my face.

"Great! I'm babysitting for Rowena and Geller. They went on a much deserved lunch date. Where's Chopper?"

"He's at home. He had some stuff to do."

Henri was about to ask what Chopper had to do but Helena made a comment that she was very hungry, so the three of us went inside. Henri whipped up some macaroni and cheese with bacon bits in it. It was a simple meal, yet so delicious. I made a mental note to remember to make this one day when Chopper and I were too lazy to make a big meal.

"So Helena, how's school? How's second grade?" I inquired.

"It's so cool! I'm top of my class! Mommy says it's because I inferreted my dad's brains," she replied. I snorted from laughter as drank my soda, causing it to go up my nose. For some reason, the word "inferreted" made me want to burst out laughing. Henri started laughing at me as I made weird faces, trying to make the pain in my nose go away.

"Helena, sweetie, I think you mean 'inherited,'" Henri corrected gently.

"Oooh! Okay. Inherited," she repeated. "Blaze, why are your eyes watering?"

"When soda goes up your nose, there's a lot of pain in your nose and it makes your eyes water. Don't worry, I'm okay. It's going away."

"Good. Pain is bad." I smiled. Oh to be young again, when you saw the world as good. When you didn't see any of the bad in it, even though there's so much of it. When we're young, we want to be older. When we're older, we want to be younger. We can't win.

The three of us finished our meal with no further accidental snorting of soda.

* * *

**Henri**

Blaze seemed happy. That was good. But something still seemed strange. Ever since Chopper had come back from being dead, the two had practically been inseparable. They rarely went out without the other. Chopper had been doing a lot of interviews for the book being written about them, so maybe that's why she'd come all the way up here. But when I talked to her a few days ago, she'd told me her family and friends had been coming over. They all lived in the same neighborhood. Genette could easily walk to Blaze's house. It was about a two minute drive from Cassie's to Blaze's house. So why had she come here? I wasn't complaining. I enjoyed Blaze's company. She'd been the first person to show me kindness, even if it was probably because she thought she was going to die. She kept me from going to prison. She integrated me into her group and into Osean society. I owed her a lot. Blaze saw the good in people in a way not many people could. She somehow saw the good in me, even though I tried to hide it. Either I sucked at hiding it from her, or she's really good at judging others.

Helena played in the living room while Blaze and I cleaned the kitchen. We listened to my goddaughter's television show. I think it was called "The Wiggles."

"What do you think people are thinking when they think up of these children songs? I mean really, who comes with 'Toot Toot Chugga Chugga Big Red Car'?" I turned around to face Blaze.

She grinned. "I'm not sure. Sounds like something Chopper would come up-" She paused midsentence. The color from her face disappeared. She grabbed onto the chair but to no avail, her strength had left her; Blaze staggered back, attempting to regain her balance. I was already on my way over to her when she fell backwards, completely unconscious. I knelt down next to her, feeling her pulse. Thank god I felt one.

"Henri? What's wrong with her?" Helena asked from behind me. I whirled around. Her eyes were wide with fear.

"Lena," I said. It was my special nickname for her. "Go get in the car. I need to take Blaze to the hospital okay?"

Lena nodded and ran to the door leading to the garage. I gingerly scooped up Blaze in my arms and carried her to my car. Helena had held the passenger door open for me so I could put Blaze in. I thanked her profusely. She got in the backseat while I got in the driver's. As I backed out of the driveway, I called Geller.

"Hello Henri," Geller said cheerfully. He was obviously having a good time. Damn, I hated to ruin that… "Everything okay with Helena?"

"Yeah, Helena's fine. Uh, Blaze came over and something happened. I don't know what's wrong but she passed out so I'm taking her to the hospital. Helena's coming with us," I informed.

"Which hospital are you taking her to? Rowena and I will meet you there," Geller said, suddenly sounding all business. He had a soft spot for Blaze too. She had been his first friend in Osea as well. He and I related in that way. We were nearly family with the entire Razgriz squadron, but Blaze was different. She _truly_ considered us family.

"I'm taking her to the one on Main Street. I'll call Chopper once I know what's going on. I don't want to call him and know nothing."

"I don't blame you. He'd rain hell upon anyone who hurt her. She and I will probably be there before you. We're right down the street from it. We'll see you soon." The two of us hung up.

I drove way over the speed limit. I don't think my speedometer dropped below sixty, even in the neighborhood. I pulled onto Main Street where traffic proceeded to halt my speeding. I cursed in Yuktobanian to vent my anger and also to make sure Helena didn't understand me. Naturally, she asked me what I was saying anyways. I told her they were big people words she wouldn't understand. Thankfully, she didn't prod further.

"Henri?" Blaze murmured.

"Blaze, how you feeling?" I inquired, looking over at her.

"Really dizzy. Are we moving? What happened?"

"We're almost to the hospital. You passed out. What's going on that you haven't told me?" I demanded gently.

"I- I don't know. I've been getting dizzy lately but… I thought it was sinuses. I think it might be more."

I snorted. "You think? Geller and Rowena are meeting us there."

"Okay," she replied softly. She kept blinking, telling me she was forcing herself to stay awake. Thankfully, we arrived at the hospital two minutes later. Geller and Rowena were in their coats waiting outside. For April, it sure was hellishly cold. Blaze opened her door, but Geller was already there. He lifted her out, refusing to give into her protests that she could walk. Helena stuck with me as I parked the car. We both ran as fast as we could into the building. Blaze was already being admitted. I lifted Helena in my arms as we followed the doctors and Blaze into the room.

"My name is Doctor Rollins. Could one of you explain what happened?" the doctor asked politely.

"I passed out," Blaze spoke up from the medical bed. "I don't know why. I just did."

"Did any of you witness it?" Rollins questioned.

"I did," I said. "She kind of staggered back before collapsing. I took her here as soon as it happened."

"Miss Banks-"

"How do you know me?" Blaze demanded, any sort of weakness in her voice gone. It proved rather frightening. The doctor seemed unaffected though when he replied kindly, "I saw your interview and reveal. Thank you for what you did for our country."

Blaze blushed. "Sorry, I'm still getting used to… being famous."

"I understand. Now, have you passed out before?"

"No, but I've been dizzy a lot. I thought it was sinuses. Guess not, huh?"

"No, I'm afraid not. I'm going to run a few tests and get your weight." He turned the rest of us. "If you four don't mind waiting in the waiting room, she needs to be alone while we do this. Have any of you contacted Chopper?"

It freaked me out this guy knew our names but Blaze answered, "I'm going to. I need to be the one to do it."

The doctor nodded. "Very well. We should be done soon."

The doctor lied about it being "soon" unless you consider two hours being "soon." However, when he came out, Blaze trailed behind him, her eyes bloodshot from crying, but her face wore a bright, ecstatic, yet shocked expression.

"Everything okay?" I asked immediately, placing my hands on her shoulders since she seemed to be swaying a bit.

"Everything's great," she laughed. "I know what's wrong now. Thing is, nothing's wrong. At least nothing bad. Although something is up."

"Miss Banks, here are you vitamins. Contact your doctor when you get home, schedule some checkups. I wish you the best." We said goodbye to the doctor and as he left, I asked, "So what's up?"

Blaze looked up at me and smiled. She tried to say something but instead, another sob came out.

* * *

**Chopper**

I paced the living room. My three puppies lay on the couch, their heads following me in unison. Had I not been so stressed out, I would've found it adorable. I did find it adorable, just not as much as I would've considering the circumstances. I hadn't realized how upset I'd made Blaze, although I didn't necessarily know if the rumors were true or not. It didn't matter. The fact that they even _were_ out made me nauseous and uneasy. I'd taken the dogs out for a walk after Gabriel nearly crapped in the house. Some paparazzi were waiting for me. They hadn't shown up at our house in a while, so I knew something big was up. I nearly decked the reporter when he asked if Blaze and I were getting a divorce. Instead I asked, "What do you mean?"

"A pedestrian saw your wife crying as she left the neighborhood, and later saw you alone looking distressed a few minutes later. Any comments?" the reporter replied.

"No. We're not getting a divorce," I said heatedly. This guy was pissing me off. I stalked back into my house with my puppies in my arms. The reporters had nearly trampled them.

My phone rang. I picked it up instantly. "Blaze?"

"No, Genette. She hasn't come home yet?"

I sighed. "No… have you seen the headlines on the news?"

"No? Why?"

Another sigh. "I'm going to come over. I don't want to be in this house right now."

I hung up, put the puppies back on the leash, and took the path in our woods that led from my house to Genette's.

* * *

**Genette**

I stared wordlessly at Chopper as he finished his story. I'm not sure what angered me more: the person who started this rumor or the pain this whole thing was causing my best friend. I was also mad at my sister. She wasn't picking up her phone for any of us. I knew Nagase, Cassie, and Chopper had pissed her off, but this was ridiculous. Chopper refused to look at any of us; he just stared into his tea cup. He wasn't a fan of coffee, just like my sister. I happened to live on the stuff.

Nagase looked ready to cry. I knew she felt like she had played some part in this. I was angry at her for talking to my sister like that, but I tried not to get onto her too much about it. Her emotions were pretty screwed up. The other day, she accidentally threw away some leftovers I was planning to eat and when I asked her where they were, she started crying and apologizing. Pregnant women…

"I don't think you angered Blaze that much. It's just some stupid person gossiping. Don't worry about it, Chopper. When Blaze gets home, talk to her. That's all you can do."

"What if I _did_ anger her that much though?"

"You're talking about the girl who turned into a demon after she thought you died. I think it would take a hell of a lot more than your argument to cause a divorce."

"I… yeah, I guess."

"Just stay over here a bit. Cassie and Grimm are coming over. It'll be fun. We won't discuss any of it. I promise."

Chopper didn't argue; he just nodded.

* * *

**Blaze**

When I got home, I yelled out for Chopper. He didn't respond. Figuring he was upstairs asleep, I went to check our room.

Nothing.

"Must be walking the dogs," I mused aloud, seeing that my little angels hadn't come to say hello to me yet. I went over to the room closest to mine and Chopper's room. It was my office. He and I had separate offices just because we had too much room in this house for two people. We bought it so when we did have children, they would be able to have their own rooms. We didn't think what we would do with the extra rooms until then.

"I think it's time for some redecorating," I decided.

* * *

**Chopper**

When I got home, I heard a lot of shuffling upstairs, like someone dragging something. I checked my phone. No calls or messages from Blaze. She must not have been home. I quietly pulled a gun out from a cabinet and tiptoed upstairs, ready to face the intruder.

"Scheißkerl!" I heard a familiar voice exclaim. The person continued to swear fluently in Belkan. They made some nonsense sentences like "son of sea monkey" and "whichever moron thought a two-hundred pound desk would be a good idea is an assbutt." I breathed a sigh of relief.

No intruder.

Just Blaze.

Of course, she sounded flustered. I put the gun on safety, put it on my back pocket, and continued upstairs. When I reached the top, I found Blaze listening to her IPod as she struggled to pull her computer desk. It impressed me she'd even gotten it halfway out of her office. Her eyes were shut, her face scrunched, as she attempted to pull it to… where?

She suddenly lost her grip, flying backwards. I caught her, but she landed a kick in my shin. That happened to be her signature kicking spot. I grunted as she whirled around. When she realized it was me, she ripped out her headphones.

"I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed.

"I'm fine. I've been through worse. Where've you been? I've been worried…"

"I was with Henri. I was fine. Well, sort of, but I'm definitely fine now. What's wrong? You look upset?" she inquired, cupping my face and forcing me to look at her.

By the way she was acting, I didn't think the rumors were true but… "Are you going to divorce me?"

Blaze blinked. "What?"

"The rumors."

"What?" she repeated.

"They say you're filing for divorce with me. I don't think it's true, but still… I got worried, especially after it happened right after our fight," I explained quickly.

She shook her head. "What?"

"You're starting to sound like Macklemore," I commented.

Blaze laughed. "Oh, sweetie, I am _not _divorcing you, and whoever said so is on crack!"

I grinned. "Thank god. Now are you okay? You said you weren't?"

"I might've… passed out earlier."

"What?" I demanded.

"Don't you start sounding like Macklemore. No, I had really low blood sugar. It caused me to pass out. I'm fine now. I'm _more_ than fine now!"

"Good. Uh, why are you moving the furniture?" I peered around her, staring at her computer desk that was halfway out the office. She kissed me on the cheek to get my attention.

"I have a new idea for the room, so I'm moving into your office," she informed. Her eyes sparkled with exhilaration. I didn't know whether I should be excited or scared.

"What's the idea?"

If possible, her smile got wider. "A nursery."

* * *

**Genette**

Cassie and Nagase were talking in the living room while I cooked dinner. I was washing my hands in the kitchen. The window in front of the sink overlooked my front yard, so if anyone came over, I could see them before they actually knocked. I happened to look up just in time to see my sister quite literally sliding on the ice on my sidewalk. Chopper came running after her as she hopped on one foot to try and stop herself. I could see him telling her something, probably "Be Careful," but he was grinning. I turned off the sink before heading to the door.

* * *

**Grimm**

All I saw was a flash of blonde hair as Genette stumbled backwards from the force with which Blaze hugged him. Cassie and Nagase came up behind me.

"What's going on?" Cassie asked.

"I thought I just saw a Blaze," I joked. Chopper came in a few seconds later. His face was flushed, but he looked beyond happy. Genette appeared back in the doorway, still hugging Blaze.

"Blaze!" Nagase gasped. "Are you okay?"

Blaze let go of her brother before approaching Nagase. She didn't even say anything. She just threw her arms around Nagase's neck. Nagase didn't seem to know what to do, so she went along with it. When the hug stopped, Blaze said, "I know what's wrong."

"I'm sorry I accused you of everything I did!" Nagase blurted.

"Don't worry about it. You're fine! No, I found out what's wrong though and truth is, nothing's wrong, although there's something up!"

"What?"

Blaze grinned even wider. "I'm pregnant."

My mouth dropped open. Chopper came over and closed it. "Trust me, that's not even the biggest news."

"What could be bigger than her being pregnant?!" Cassie demanded, throwing her arms around Blaze in a hug. I followed in suit. "How far along?"

"Two months."

"What's the bigger news?" I shouted over the commotion.

My captain chuckled as she took Chopper's hand in hers. "They're twins."

* * *

**Chopper**

**July 11, 2014…**

"Chopper! Chopper! Get up!" Blaze shook me awake. I grunted but opened my eyes. Her eyes were glittering. "Cassie's going into labor!"

That woke me up. How had my wife, the person who sleeps like the dead, heard her phone when it was on vibrate in the middle of the night? Honestly. It doesn't make sense. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. "How long?"

"Grimm just got her to the hospital. I'm going to head over there. Guy sounds like he's about to have a heart attack," Blaze joked.

"I'm going with you," I declared, shaking my head to clear the rest of my drowsiness. Blaze kissed me on the cheek before rolling (quite literally) out of bed. I watched her waddle to the closet. Her stomach had exploded in size during the past three months. She was about six months pregnant and still got violent bouts of morning sickness; that was one of the problems with twins. The woman usually had severe morning sickness.

It amazed me that two human beings were growing inside her stomach. It fascinated me and completely weirded me out at the same time. I shuffled into our closet, a huge walk-in. Blaze was already pulling a shirt off the rack before going into our bedroom to change. I just threw a shirt on. I was in sweatpants already; I saw no reason to change if I was going to hospital. When I turned around, Blaze had already changed shirts, but she was struggling to put on her jeans. She hopped around like a rabbit; I'm not sure if the hopping was meant to make the jeans go on easier or something, so I just leaned against the doorframe and watched with my arms crossed, trying not to laugh. She looked really adorable. Finally, after about three minutes of trying, she muttered, "Schrauben Sie es. Ich trage Jogginghose."

Translation: Screw it. I'm wearing sweatpants. She'd been teaching me Belkan since we'd gotten engaged a second time. I knew all the swear words. I was still learning how to count. Haven't quite gotten the numbers down yet. I keep laughing every time I say the Belkan word for six.

"Can we grab Taco Bell on the way home? I'm starved," Blaze remarked, putting on some mascara.

"Are they even open?"

"Unless they want angry pregnant lady breaking in, they will be."

Blaze's craving's had been weird. Just the other day she had chocolate ice cream with pineapple, apple, and strawberry fruit chunks. Just the other night (two in the morning), I found her eating rice with brown sugar, barbecue sauce, and a melted substance that looked suspiciously like butter. I didn't even say anything. I just walked back upstairs; she still doesn't know I saw that. One morning, a few weeks back, she slathered Nutella on her pieces of bacon and put grape jelly on her eggs. For some reason, the grape jelly on eggs seemed somewhat familiar to me, but I couldn't put my finger on it. And finally, meat. She couldn't get enough of it, hence her current craving for Taco Bell.

We were about to leave when I pointed out to her, "Love, you're wearing different shoes."

Blaze attempted to peer over her belly but she was so big, it was futile. She sat down on the floor and stuck her feet out to see. She swore in Belkan before grabbing for the correct shoe she wanted while carelessly tossing the other shoe to nowhere in particular. I tried to help her up but she held up her hand and declared, "I got this!"

I watched with a smirk on my face while tensing in case I had to catch her. She rolled on to her knees, stretched her legs out (because her stomach prevented her from lifting them into kneeling position), and slowly slid her feet together. She looked at me triumphantly. I laughed but said nothing. We got in the car and drove to the hospital.

When we got there, Cassie was majorly in labor. The doctors predicted her baby would be born within the hour. Major, Bartlett, Nagase, Genette, Pops, and Andersen were all there. Pops and Andersen looked meticulously dressed. How they managed to look that good at three in the morning beats me. I probably looked like Freddy Kreuger.

Major held her baby boy: Percy. He had her black hair, but Bartlett's green eyes. He had Bartlett's knack for getting into trouble, too. Major and Bartlett were still trying to found out how he found three quarters (which he promptly stuck in his mouth). We all waited impatiently for the news that the baby had been born. Blaze and Nagase ran down to the food court where they could get some food. They came back with three containers of strawberry yogurt and cocoa puff cereal boxes. Genette and I shared a look that obviously said, "What is wrong with them?" The girls, however, found their concoction of cocoa puffs and yogurt divine.

"Just the other day, Nagase mixed chocolate chips with jello and chocolate milk," Genette whispered to me. I harrumphed, telling him about Blaze and her brown rice. He made a gagging noise.

Just as we were about to discuss it some more, Grimm came bouncing out, announcing gleefully the baby had been born. We had to wait for the nurses to deem the baby healthy and all those shindigs before we could see her. She was beautiful.

"What's her name?" Blaze asked softly so she wouldn't wake up the sleeping baby. Cassie looked exhausted. I'd heard giving birth was hell. Not to be rude, but Cassie looked like she'd crossed Area B7R alone without any provisions.

"Tessa," Cassie murmured.

Blaze kissed her on the forehead. "Get some sleep. You won't be getting any for the next few months."

Cassie fell asleep instantly, cradling Tessa in her arms. Grimm got into the bed next to her. The rest of us took that as our cue to leave; they deserved some time alone.

* * *

**October 30, 2014…**

Blaze stood next to me at the dining table. I was paying some bills. She rested her enormous belly on the table. It gave her back some relief. Carrying twins put a lot of strain on her back. I remember when the twins first started kicking, I'd lay my head on her stomach. It was surprisingly comfortable until one kicked me in the head. I jumped so violently I fell off the bed. Blaze nearly rolled off the bed from laughing. I learned my lesson after that. Apparently the twins already inherited her habit of kicking before thinking. They kicked a lot.

"You okay?" she asked, yawning.

"Yeah, just paying bills." I turned around to face her. Her hair stood atop her head in a messy bun. She wore a tank top and sweats. She'd given up about a month ago on making herself, as she called it, "look decent," but she looked great to me no matter what. I tried to get her to sit down in my lap but she commented, "I'd break your legs. I weigh almost a hundred and eighty!"

"I weigh two hundred. You're fine."

"I don't want to risk it." She kissed me on the top of my head and went over to the pantry. She pulled out Nutella and chips. I looked at her weirdly. Blaze simply stuck her tongue out at me but quickly retracted it as she violently bent down, one hand grabbing the counter and one grabbing her stomach. I was next to her side in one second flat.

"Damn Braxton Hicks," she mumbled; she bit her lip to prevent herself from crying out. I hurried and got her some water. It helped her for some reason. After a few more convulsions, she could stand straight. "I'm getting really sick of those."

"Are you sure it's not time to go to the hospital?" I queried.

"Doctor said I'm not due for another two weeks unless the twins are deciding to cause mischief and trying to be born early. Ugh, I need the bathroom. If you touch the Nutella or chips, you die." Blaze patted my cheek before disappearing into the hall. I seriously contemplated whether or not I should hide the Nutella and chips to prevent her from her freaky (and probably unhealthy) eating habits but decided I valued my life.

I went back to the table and was about to start up with the bills again when Blaze came in looking somewhat sheepish, calm, and panicked.

"Blaze?"

"Correction. I do need to go to the hospital. Um, yeah, my water just broke…" she admitted sheepishly. My paternal instincts kicked in. I ran and grabbed the bag we needed that had food, outfits for us and the baby, diapers, and other provisions Blaze had gotten. I'd been too freaked out by how much stuff was in it to really look at it all. She was handling this a lot better than I was. She sat on the floor to put on her shoes. It was the only way Blaze could get them on now.

"You ready?" I inquired, heading out the door.

"Uh, Chopper, aren't you forgetting something?" Blaze asked, a sympathetic smile playing on her face.

I patted my pockets while muttering to myself, "Keys, check… money, check… bag, check… oh! Phone! Thanks for reminding me," I exclaimed, running to the kitchen counter. I was about to leave when Blaze just stated, "Chopper. Really?"

"What?"

"You're forgetting something very, very important."

"What? I swear I have everything."

"I think you might need the mother," she remarked in amusement.

"Oops…" I hurriedly helped her up. She could hardly walk. I could tell she was in pain even though she refused to say so. I got her in the car. I drove like hell to the hospital. I'm surprised my driving didn't scare the twins out of her. She had doubled over in pain. I kept trying to call people to let them know what was going on, but I didn't want to crash. I carried Blaze into the hospital, much to her protest. There was no way I was letting her walk (not that she could probably walk anyway). Doctors rushed over to us immediately. I put her on a bed and they wheeled her away, with me at their heels. I started calling everyone. At least she wasn't having the twins in the middle of the night like Cassie or Nagase.

Genette and Nagase were the first to arrive. Cipher and Pixy showed up next. I hadn't even called Pixy, but apparently Cipher had (he explained he hit the wrong number trying to call Blaze's parents). Mr. and Mrs. Banks appeared with my family. Cassie and Grimm came after them. Bartlett and Major followed, with Geller and Rowena and Helena about five minutes behind them. Henri, Pops, and Andersen came last. Henri looked frazzled but excited. Blaze requested only I be in the room with her while delivering the twins.

When I went in, I was ordered to put on scrubs and a mask. I did as told. Blaze was sweating up a storm. She grabbed me by the arm and growled, "Ich werde dich töten."

Translation? "I'm going to kill you."

The doctor and nurses looked at me curiously, wondering what she said. I said nonchalantly, "Oh, she's just telling me how much she loves me."

They staff looked at me dubiously but some had caught onto the fact I was joking; I could see their eyes crinkling from smiling. Meanwhile, Blaze shot me daggers. If looks could kill…

* * *

**Grimm**

One hour after Blaze had been admitted, the doctor came out telling us we could go in and see them. We found Chopper sitting on the side of the bed holding one of the twins. Blaze held the other.

"Want to kill me still?" Chopper chuckled.

Blaze blushed. "I didn't mean it…"

"I don't know. You shot me some daggers earlier," he joked. "And Grimm, you can come in. You don't have to wait like a lost puppy in the doorway."

"I'm not a lost puppy for your information." I looked down at the twin boys. They had Blaze's facial structure, but Chopper's mischievous blue eyes. I knew immediately Blaze and Chopper were going to have their hands full with the twins.

"They're beautiful!" Nagase breathed as she cradled her son Alec. "What are their names?"

"Chopper is holding William. I'm holding James," Blaze replied.

"Blaze, I'm questioning why you chose those names," Cassie mused as she stroked Will's hair out of his face; I didn't get it but Blaze did because she stuck her tongue out at Cassie. He looked up at her with sparkling eyes. "Who was born first?"

"First Will and then James. Five minutes apart."

"May I hold one?" Mrs. Banks queried hopefully. Blaze handed James to her mother. Mrs. Davenport took Will. We passed the twins around, being careful since they were newborns. Pops and Andersen were the last to hold the twins. That's when the babies started crying. The two grown men hastily returned the twins to their parents. The babies settled down instantly. Mrs. Banks and Mrs. Davenport took out their cameras. They demanded a picture of their grandsons with their parents. Blaze and Chopper obliged, knowing it to be futile to resist. They snapped multiple pictures before being satisfied.

"So how does it feel to finally be a father?" Cipher queried, his eyes flitting between James and Will.

"Unreal but fantastic. I'm excited. I apologize now if I get snappy with anyone. That will be from lack of sleep. Hey Blaze, I'm going to- never mind," Chopper said, a gentle smile appearing on his face. Blaze had fallen asleep with James curled up in her arms. I could tell instantly James would be a momma's boy.

We all stayed a little while longer until our kids started getting anxious. Tessa started to cry. I didn't want to wake up Blaze, James, or Will (who had finally decided to go to sleep). We all took that as our cue to leave. The Banks, Cipher, and the Davenports gave hugs to Chopper and kissed Blaze gently on the head. She didn't stir. As I left the room, I glanced back around. Chopper had crawled into bed with Blaze, careful not to wake up the twins. He rested his head against hers. He caught me looking and for a brief moment, he gave me a look that I knew too well, because I'd had it on my face the day Tessa was born. He wore an expression of pure bliss and happiness.

I gave him an understanding smile before I left them in peace.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter! There's two eggs hidden (I think that's what you call it). It has to do with the twins and one of Blaze's eating habits. Let's see if anyone figures it out.**

**On a completely unrelated subject, does anyone know how long Victor Voychek was trapped under the catacombs in Gracemeria?**

**And one more thing. I feel like there's a lot I was unable to answer in the interview so I have a proposition for y'all: what would you think if I created a tumblr page for you guys to send in questions and I answer the way the characters would? I'll post pictures of the actors/actresses of who I would pick to play each character in the story too so you guys can have mental images of them :) let me know what you think! Review!**


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